Persistent bullying is one of the worst experiences a child can face. How can it be prevented? Peter Smith, Professor of Psychology at the University of Sheffield, directed the Sheffield Anti-Bullying Intervention Project, funded by the Department for Education.

持续的欺凌是孩子可能遭遇的最糟糕的经历之一。如何才能预防？谢菲尔德大学心理学教授彼得·史密斯领导了由英国教育部门资助的“谢菲尔德反欺凌干预项目”。

Here he reports on his findings.

他在此报告了他的发现.

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ABullying can take a variety of forms, from the verbal - being taunted or called hurtful names - to the physical - being kicked or shoved - as well as indirect forms, such as being excluded from social groups. A survey I conducted with Irene Whitney found that in British primary schools up to a quarter of pupils reported experience of bullying, which in about one in ten cases was persistent. There was less bullying in secondary schools, with about one in twenty-five suffering persistent bullying, but these cases may be particularly recalcitrant.

[p:a]欺凌可以采取多种形式，包括言语上的欺凌——如被嘲笑或使用侮辱性称呼——身体上的欺凌——如被踢打或推搡——以及间接形式，例如被排除在社交群体之外。我与艾琳·惠特尼进行的一项调查显示，在英国的小学中，多达四分之一的学生曾遭遇欺凌，其中约十分之一的情况是持续性的。中学中的欺凌情况相对较少，大约每二十五人中就有一人遭受持续性欺凌，但这类案例可能尤为顽固。

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BBullying is clearly unpleasant, and can make the child experiencing it feel unworthy and depressed. In extreme cases it can even lead to suicide, though this is thankfully rare. Victimised pupils are more likely to experience difficulties with interpersonal relationships as adults, while children who persistently bully are more likely to grow up to be physically violent, and convicted of anti-social offences.

[p:b]欺凌显然令人不快，会使遭受欺凌的孩子感到无价值和抑郁。在极端情况下，甚至可能导致自杀，但幸运的是这种情况十分罕见。受害的学生成年后更可能在人际交往方面遇到困难，而长期遭受欺凌的儿童则更容易长大后成为暴力行为者，并被定罪为反社会犯罪。

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CUntil recently, not much was known about the topic, and little help was available to teachers to deal with bullying. Perhaps as a consequence, schools would often deny the problem. 'There is no bullying at this school' has been a common refrain, almost certainly untrue. Fortunately more schools are now saying: 'There is not much bullying here, but when it occurs we have a clear policy for dealing with it.'

[p:c]直到最近，关于这一话题的了解还很少，教师在应对霸凌问题时也几乎没有得到帮助。或许正因如此，许多学校常常否认存在此类问题。“这所学校没有霸凌”成了常见的说法，但几乎肯定并不属实。幸运的是，如今越来越多的学校表示：“这里霸凌现象不多，但一旦发生，我们有明确的处理政策。”

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DThree factors are involved in this change. First is an awareness of the severity of the problem. Second, a number of resources to help tackle bullying have become available in Britain. For example, the Scottish Council for Research in Education produced a package of materials, Action Against Bullying, circulated to all schools in England and Wales as well as in Scotland in summer 1992, with a second pack, Supporting Schools Against Bullying, produced the following year. In Ireland, Guidelines on Countering Bullying Behaviour in Post-Primary Schools was published in 1993. Third, there is evidence that these materials work, and that schools can achieve something. This comes from carefully conducted 'before and after' evaluations of interventions in schools, monitored by a research team. In Norway, after an intervention campaign was introduced nationally, an evaluation of forty-two schools suggested that, over a two-year period, bullying was halved. The Sheffield investigation, which involved sixteen primary schools and seven secondary schools, found that most schools succeeded in reducing bullying.

[p:d]这一变化涉及三个因素。第一，人们开始意识到问题的严重性。第二，英国已出现多种资源，以帮助应对校园欺凌。例如，苏格兰教育研究委员会于1992年夏季向英格兰、威尔士及苏格兰的所有学校分发了名为《打击欺凌行动》的一套资料包，次年又推出了名为《支持学校应对欺凌》的第二套资料包。在爱尔兰，1993年发布了《后中等教育阶段学校反欺凌行为指南》。第三，已有证据表明这些资料确实有效，学校能够取得一定成效。这来自由研究团队精心开展的“干预前后”评估，对各校实施的措施进行了跟踪监测。在挪威，全国推行一项干预活动后，对42所学校进行的评估显示，在两年内欺凌行为减少了50%。而谢菲尔德调查则涵盖16所小学和7所中学，结果显示大多数学校都成功降低了欺凌现象。

EEvidence suggests that a key step is to develop a policy on bullying, saying clearly what is meant by bullying, and giving explicit guidelines on what will be done if it occurs, what records will be kept, who will be informed, what sanctions will be employed. The policy should be developed through consultation, over a period of time - not just imposed from the head teacher's office！ Pupils, parents and staff should feel they have been involved in the policy, which needs to be disseminated and implemented effectively.

[p:e]证据表明，制定一项反欺凌政策是关键步骤，必须明确界定“欺凌”的含义，并对发生欺凌时应采取的措施、需保存的记录、通知对象以及所实施的处罚作出具体指导。该政策应通过长期的协商制定，而非仅由校长办公室单方面强制推行。学生、家长和教职员工都应感到自己参与了政策的制定过程，同时该政策需要得到有效传达和落实。

Other actions can be taken to back up the policy. There are ways of dealing with the topic through the curriculum, using video, drama and literature. These are useful for raising awareness, and can best be tied in to early phases of development, while the school is starting to discuss the issue of bullying. They are also useful in renewing the policy for new pupils, or revising it in the light of experience. But curriculum work alone may only have short-term effects; it should be an addition to policy work, not a substitute.

还可以采取其他措施来支持这项政策。通过课程、视频、戏剧和文学等方式处理相关议题，这些方法有助于提高意识，最好在校园开始讨论霸凌问题的早期阶段就加以实施。它们也适用于向新学生更新政策，或根据实际经验对政策进行修订。但仅靠课程教学可能只能带来短期效果；它应作为政策工作的补充，而非替代手段。

There are also ways of working with individual pupils, or in small groups. Assertiveness training for pupils who are liable to be victims is worthwhile, and certain approaches to group bullying such as 'no blame', can be useful in changing the behaviour of bullying pupils without confronting them directly, although other sanctions may be needed for those who continue with persistent bullying.

此外，也有针对个别学生或小群体进行教学的方法。对于容易成为受害者的学生成立自信训练很有价值，而某些应对群体欺凌的方法，例如“不归咎”策略，在不直接面对欺凌者的情况下，有助于改变其行为。然而，对于持续欺凌的学生，可能还需要采取其他措施加以制裁。

Work in the playground is important, too. One helpful step is to train lunchtime supervisors to distinguish bullying from playful fighting, and help them break up conflicts. Another possibility is to improve the playground environment, so that pupils are less likely to be led into bullying from boredom or frustration.

在游乐场工作同样重要。一个有益的做法是培训午休时段的监督人员，帮助他们区分欺凌行为和嬉戏性打斗，并协助他们化解冲突。另一个可能的方法是改善游乐场环境，使学生不太容易因无聊或挫败感而被卷入欺凌行为。

FWith these developments, schools can expect that at least the most serious kinds of bullying can largely be prevented. The more effort put in and the wider the whole school involvement, the more substantial the results are likely to be. The reduction in bullying - and the consequent improvement in pupil happiness - is surely a worthwhile objective.

[p:f]随着这些进展，学校可以期待至少能够有效预防最严重的欺凌行为。投入更多努力，并让全校师生广泛参与，成果将更加显著。减少欺凌行为并由此改善学生的幸福感，无疑是一个值得追求的目标。