Bullying prevention strategies for educators
Bullying can be upsetting and overwhelming for everyone involved, including teachers. At Meta, we want to help keep bullying out of your classroom with resources focused on taking a preventative approach.
Be clear that bullying is unacceptable.
It takes being proactive to stop bullying from happening. Make it clear to students, parents and staff that bullying is unacceptable and that there are consequences. Regularly share your school–or classroom–policies on bullying. Weave the topic into classroom discussions and make it a part of assignments to remind your students that the policies exist to protect everyone’s well-being.
Remind students to ask for help.
Work on empowering students to speak up if they witness any kind of bullying. Remind them that they can trust you and that you'll take their concerns seriously and help them address problems.
Know your school safety policy.
Experts recommend that all schools have a safety policy that includes bullying-prevention policies. Stay informed of how bullying, harassment and intimidation are defined by your school and learn what procedures to follow.
Consider requesting improvements to the policy based on what you've observed in your classroom. For example, set up an anonymous reporting system that will allow students and teachers to feel safe reporting bullying.
If your school's formal procedure for investigating bullying includes consequences for students who have bullied others, make this list of consequences available to students. If an incident doesn’t fall under the school’s policies, consider telling the parents of the students involved.
Agree to classroom rules.
You may want to work with students to create rules to allow everyone to have input and feel invested in preventing bullying from happening or spreading. Here are some examples as a jumping-off point:
- If we know that somebody is bullying or disrespecting others, we will tell an adult
- We will treat others online with the same respect that we do in person
- We will not post any photos or videos of other people without their permission or to try to embarrass or shame them
Display these rules prominently to remind students of the responsibility they share in preventing bullying.
Establish an Internet-safety education program or peer-support program.
Create a program at your school for Internet safety designed to help students, teachers and staff and include lessons on:
- Computer and Internet safety
- Password protection and other security and privacy tips
- Responsible Internet use and inspiration for using technology for good
- Peer-to-peer bullying prevention strategies
See our lesson plans, conversation starters, activities, and videos specifically designed for teachers to help young people become empowered digital citizens.
