Journal of Adolescence 1999, 22, 481±492

Article No. jado.1999.0242, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school with

students as helpers
L. PETERSON AND K. RIGBY

To counter bullying at an Australian coeducational secondary school, staff and

students co-operated in developing and implementing appropriate policies and
procedures. Questionnaires assessing the incidence of bullying and related attitudes
were completed by students in Years 7, 9, 10 and 11 in 1995 and again in 1997.
Signi®cant reductions in levels of victimization were recorded for Year 7 students only.
Signi®cantly increased support for anti-bullying initiatives was found among senior
students (Years 10 and 11). Anti-bullying activities directed and undertaken by
students themselves received most approval from peers.
# 1999 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

Introduction

In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, the problem of bullying at schools has
recently been recognized as a serious concern (Rigby, 1997a). Over the last 6 years surveys
conducted in 86 schools using the Peer Relations Questionnaire (Rigby and Slee, 1993a)
have yielded data from over 38,000 Australian school children, from which it has been found
that approximately one child in six is bullied by a peer or group of peers at school on a weekly
basis (Rigby, 1998a). It is known that many of these victimized children are severely affected.
They are more likely than others to absent themselves from school and to experience below
average physical and psychological health, which may persist for years after intensive periods
of bullying (Rigby, 1998b).
Interventions to counter bullying in schools are now regarded as a matter of high priority
in an increasing number of Australian schools. Yet, for the most part, reports of school-based
interventions indicate only limited success. For example, whilst in the U.K. the Shef®eld
intervention study found reductions overall of the order of 15±20%, in some schools no
signi®cant changes were reported (Smith and Sharp, 1994). The task of devising
more consistently effective interventions remains. It may be that different methods will
work in different schools. Hence, there is a continuing need to examine in some detail what
schools are doing to address this distressing and often seemingly intractable problem of peer
bullying.
Anti-bullying programmes in schools generally have these features in common: they have
a school policy speci®cally targeting bullying and also procedures for dealing with incidents of
bullying when they arise. These procedures are typically teacher-directed and employ a
combination of counselling of students who are involved and sanctions to punish bullies and
deter further bullying behaviour. Some schools, however, have additional features which
enable students themselves to contribute towards a solution to the bullying problem.

Reprint requests and correspondence should be addressed to Dr K. Rigby, University of South Australia,
Underdale Campus, Holbrooks Road, Underdale, South Australia, 5032, Australia.

0140-1971/99/040481+12 $30
00/0 # 1999 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents
482 L. Petersen and K. Rigby

Involving students in anti-bullying action is desirable for a variety of reasons. Children

who are victimized often prefer to go to other students for help rather than to teachers. This
is particularly true of children in secondary schools, where less than one in four of the
children who indicated in surveys that they have been bullied report having ever informed a
teacher compared with more than half who have spoken about it to another student (Rigby,
1997b). Reluctance to tell teachers is marked particularly among male adolescents, for whom
``dobbing'' (an Australian term for ``telling'') is seriously un-Australian. In any case, informing
someone often appears to be an ineffective step for many children.
Empowering students to assist in countering bullying has been a feature of programmes
adopted by some schools, particularly in the United Kingdom (see Cowie and Sharp, 1996).
An example is the Anti-bullying Campaign at Acland Burghley in the U.K. in which students
were trained to work with both bullies and victims (Paterson et al., 1996). Positive effects
were reported not only through the reduction of reported bullying at the school but also in
gains in the social development of peer-helpers.
In this paper we focus on what was done over a 2-year period at an Australian secondary
school where actions were undertaken by students themselves to overcome the problem for
peer victimization, or bullying. Their endeavours were part of a whole school approach which
also included actions taken by teachers and the involvement of parents.

The school

The school was a large coeducational school in an urban area of New South Wales. It is
attended by some 1200 students, 80% described themselves as from ``Australian families'', the
minority being of immigrant background from Europe and Asia. The school caters for
students from Years 7 to 12, with most students transferring from local primary schools at 12
years of age.

Assessment of bullying at the school

The Peer Relations Questionnaire (PRQ) devised by Rigby and Slee (1993a) was
administered to all students in Years 7, 9, 10 and 11 in July 1995. This is approximately
half way through the school year in Australian schools. Because other arrangements had
been made for them, students in Year 8 could not be included. It was decided to exclude Year
12 because priority was given to their academic work. The results provided quantitative data
on a range of responses to bully/victim issues. They served two purposes: to raise awareness of
the problem of bullying at the school and to provide a baseline for subsequent comparisons.

Bullying at the school: incidence and reported consequences

Bullying is described in the PRQ as occurring when ``someone is deliberately hurting or

frightening someone weaker than themselves for no good reason. This may be done in
different ways: by hurtful teasing, threatening actions or gestures, name-calling or hitting or
kicking''. It is emphasized that ``it is not bullying when two people of about the same strength
have the odd ®ght or quarrel''.
 Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school 483

Table 1 Numbers (and percentages) of students reporting being bullied weekly

Year of schooling
7 9 10 11 All students
Boys 46 (40
7) 42 (38
5) 15 (13
3) 16 (26
7) 119 (30
1)
Girls 26 (30
6) 17 (18
3) 7 (6
8) 6 (8
6) 56 (16
0)

The most general measure of bullying in the PRQ utilizes an estimate of the frequency
with which a student experiences bullying behaviour from others at school. The percentages
of students reporting being bullied weekly are given for boys and girls according to year in
Table 1.
Comparisons with norms available from Australian students in these years attending
coeducational schools show that the level of reported victimization was unusually high,
especially among boys. The corresponding means for Australian students, in these years,
based on results given in the PRQ Manual (Rigby, 1998a), are, for boys 20
5% (n=8546),
and for girls 14
6% (n=7557).
An examination of the kinds of bullying reported as ``often'' experienced by students at the
school showed that being called hurtful names was the most common (boys, 14
4%, girls
11
2%), followed by being unpleasantly teased (boys 14
2%, girls 11
0%). More boys reported
being hit or kicked ``often'' than girls (13
7% of boys and 6
7% of girls), and also being often
threatened (12
9% of boys and 5
3% of girls). Being often ``left out of things'' occurred to a
similar extent: 9
7% of boys and 9
0% of girls. As in the normative sample, bullying occurred
mostly within gender groups, although girls were more likely to report being bullied by boys
than vice versa. On none of the comparisons between the reported incidence of bullying of
students from families described as ``Australian'' and others were there signi®cant differences
after applying chi-square analyses (in each case, p40
05, df=2). This suggests that bullying
was not particularly motivated by racial or ethnic prejudice.
Students who reported being bullied in one way, for example, by threats or being hit, also
tended to report being bullied in other ways, such as being unpleasantly teased or deliberately
excluded. In fact, an index or scale of victimization based on responses on a three-point scale
(never, sometimes, often) to questions about the ®ve kinds of bullying described above
proved to be reliable, with an alpha coef®cient of 0
85. Scores on this so-called Victim Scale
were subsequently used to make comparisons with applications of the PRQ at the school
2 years later (see Table 2).
Results from the PRQ also provided evidence that many students were being affected
negatively by being bullied at school. Of those reporting being bullied, 31% of boys and 46%
of girls reported that afterwards they ``felt worse about themselves''; some 40% of boys and
60% of girls reported feeling angry or miserable about it. Of the total sample, 14% of boys and
12% of girls reported staying away from school because of bullying at school; and 34% of boys
and 33% of girls indicated that ``they could use help from somebody'' to stop being bullied.
On the positive side, there were grounds for supposing that many students wanted help
improve the situation. Some 53% of boys and 56% of girls indicated that they thought
``students and teachers should work together to stop bullying''. A further 28% of students
were ``unsure''.
484 L. Petersen and K. Rigby

Table 2 Mean scores on the Victim Scale for the 1995 and 1997 samples, by year and sex
Year 7 Year 8* Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
1995 sample
boys 8
19 ± 8
30 6
77 7
02
(120) ± (109) (113) (60)
girls 8
08 ± 7
22 6
19 6
28
(87) ± (93) (104) (72)
1997 sample
boys 7
91 7
64 9
19 6
78 6
96
(82) (95) (103) (74) (81)
girls 7
24 7
00 7
60 6
66 6
14
(92) (97) (86) (82) (57)
Results for three-way ANOVA
F df p
Main factors
Time (1995 vs. 1997) 0
15 1 40
05
Year (7, 9, 10, 11) 30
27 3 50
001
Sex 24
13 1 50
001
Interactions
Time6year 3
37 3 50
05
Time6sex 0
36 1 40
05
Year6sex 2
76 1 50
05
Time6year6sex 0
76 3 n.s.
*Data for year 8 in 1995 were not available and were accordingly not taken into account in the ANOVA.
In the table of mean scores n is given for subgroups in parentheses.

Actions to stop bullying

Results from the PRQ were presented to the teachers at a staff meeting. The general
response was one of shock: the extent of the problem appeared much greater than had been
anticipated. A number of actions followed. First, a school policy on bullying was developed,
involving not only staff members but also student representatives and parents. This began
with a statement of rights: ``Every person at [this] school has the right to experience positive
and respectful relationships between all members of the school community. They also have
the right to learn and teach in a happy and safe environment. Bullying is therefore not
acceptable at [this] school.'' The policy also went on to describe, in general terms, how the
school proposed to prevent bullying. Support was to be enlisted from teachers, parents and
students.
School staff were urged to acknowledge the seriousness of any bullying incident or report
made to them by a student involving bullying. The incident or report was to be referred to a
nominated teacher, a staff member with the responsibility of dealing with the case. The
procedure adopted was along the lines suggested by Pikas (1989) in his Method of Shared
Concern (Rigby, 1997a); that is, suspected bullies were interviewed individually, the problem
and the school's concern about the victimization was shared with the student, and
responsible action to improve the situation invited. Promised actions were then carefully
monitored. Interviews were also to be conducted with victims and advice given to help them.
 Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school 485

This approach has been shown to be effective in preventing further bullying in a majority of
cases (Smith and Sharp, 1994). A number of teachers undertook appropriate training to
employ this method at the school. At the same time, student awareness of the importance of
what was being done was increased by the introduction of content about bullying as part of
the school curriculum. In both the Personal/Health and English/Drama areas speci®c lessons
focused on the discussion of bullying issues.

Student participation in anti-bullying action

All students were advised to bring cases of bullying into the open. If they were being bullied
they should seek help, in the ®rst instance by discussing what was happening with friends and
parents. If this was not effective, help would be provided by the school. A number of roles
were created so that students could be involved directly in countering bullying in the school.

The Anti-bullying Committee

In 1996, with the support and guidance of a district of®cer from the State education
authority, students at the school were invited to volunteer to become members of a
committee which would assist in the planning and implementing of anti-bullying activities.
The response was enthusiastic. Approximately 50 students from Years 7 to 11 became part of
this group which began to meet both within and outside school time. This proved to be an
empowering experience for many students, some of whom had previously been regarded by
staff members as ``problem students''. Within this structure, a number of subcommittees and
helping roles have been developed to complement the work begun by the staff of the school.

The peer helper group

Central to the committee's work were the activities of a group of students whose role it
became to make contact with students who reported being victimized by an individual or
group of students and wanted to be helped. Training was provided for these peer helpers to
help them to listen in a caring, sensitive way and, if the victimized student wished, to report
students who had bullied others to staff trained in the Method of Shared Concern.
Subsequently peer helpers were frequently approached by students who wished to talk about
their problems. So-called Bully Line boxes provided one means by which peer helpers could
be contacted.

The public speaking group

The credibility of the Anti-bullying Committee was greatly enhanced by the readiness of
some of its members to speak up at school assemblies and staff meetings. Their contribution
was a central component of the launching of the School Anti-bullying Policy.

The poster group

As part of the publicising of anti-bullying initiatives, some students produced a series of anti-
violence, anti-bullying posters.

The drama group

A group of students presented their own dramatic performances of bullying at school to new
students at orientation meetings and also to the School Assembly.
486 L. Petersen and K. Rigby

Other student-based activities

These ``other'' activities did not have countering bullying as their sole or central concern, but
were nevertheless expected to make signi®cant contributions. These included the school
welcomers whose role it was to help new students not only with enrolment procedures but
also to offer membership of a social group, at least until they became more established at the
school and made their own friends. It is known that newcomers are often most vulnerable to
bullying due to their social isolation. In addition, a primary school group visited the main
feeder primary school and over a 5-week period spoke to Year 6 students in small groups
about ways of dealing with bullying. Of further relevance was the Peer Support Program
which met regularly to help address a range of personal developmental issues experienced by
young adolescents. Speci®c discussion materials on bullying at school were included in this
programme as the ®rst intervention in the school's anti-bullying programme.

The impact of student-based activities to counter bullying

When a range of activities has been undertaken to achieve a desired goal, it is dif®cult to
assess precisely which speci®c activity, if any, made a signi®cant impact. In seeking to
evaluate what has happened, one can ask two relevant questions: (i) whether in fact there
were changes in the incidence of bullying and attitudes towards bullying at the school over
the 2 years within which anti-bullying activities were carried out, and (ii) what activities, if
any, were seen as making a substantial contribution by those most involved in peer
interactions, that is by students.

Changes in bullying over time

In September 1997 the PRQ was administered for a second time to students of the school, on
this occasion from Years 7 to 11. Again the ®ve-item Victim Scale proved to be reliable
(alpha-0
86). It was therefore used as a relatively sensitive indicator of the extent to which
students were being bullied by peers at school. The mean scores on this measure are given for
the 1995 and 1997 samples in Table 2.
From the results in Table 2 it is evident that there was not an overall decline in reported
victimization at the second assessment. It was unclear, however, whether the criteria for
determining ``victimization'' had changed as a consequence of the continuing attention
bullying had received over the 2 years of intervention. One might expect students to have
become more sensitive to, and more inclusive of, what actually constitutes bullying. As in
earlier studies (Rigby, 1997b), girls reported being bullied less frequently; being bullied was
also less commonly reported by senior students (Years 10 and 11) than by juniors (Year 7 in
1995 and Years 7 and 8 in 1997). The ®ndings that bullying was highest in Year 9 for boys in
1995 and for boys and girls in Year 9 in 1997 were inconsistent with previous normative data,
which show a continuous decline in bullying with age for both sexes (Rigby, 1998a). The
signi®cant interaction effects (time6year and time6sex) suggest the possibility of some
variation across time in the relative incidence of bullying in different year groups and also
between boys and girls.
 Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school 487

Given that interactions between children occur mainly within year groups, a further
analysis was conducted to compare Victim Scale scores between 1995 and 1997 for particular
year groups. Successive two-way ANOVAs with sex and time (95 vs. 97) as factors were
conducted using data for Years 7, 9, 10 and 11. Signi®cant results were found in results for
Years 7 and 9. For Year 7 the mean Victim Score was signi®cantly lower in 1997 (F=3
88,
p=0
05); but for Year 9 the mean score was signi®cantly higher in 1997 (F=4
41, p50
05).
In addition, in Year 9 males scored signi®cantly higher than females: (F=19
24, p50
001).
There were no signi®cant interaction effects. These results suggest that bullying was lower in
1997 for Year 7 students than it had been 2 years earlier, but for Year 9 it was higher.

Differences between year groups on other measured PRQ variables

Further comparisons were made between pre- and post-intervention responses to other PRQ
items related to bullying for three groups or levels of students: (i) Year 7, the group for which
reported peer victimization decreased; (ii) Year 9, for which a signi®cant increase was
recorded; and (iii) senior students (Years 10 and 11) for which no signi®cant changes in
victimization were found. The p-values assigned to the obtained group differences were
derived from multiple chi-square analysis. Values adjusted using a Bonferonni correction
would support as signi®cant (p50
05, two-tailed test) those given below as ``p50
001''. The
non-adjusted p-values at the 0
01 and 0
05 levels are given to identify trends.
Among Year 7 students the following differences between the 1995 and 1997 samples were
found: fewer students in 1997 observed bullying occurring ``often'' on the way to and from
school (p50
001); more students expressed the view that the school was a safe place for
young people who ®nd it hard to defend themselves (p50
05); more students thought that
``teachers were interested in trying to stop bullying'' (p50
01); fewer students reported being
threatened with harm by other students (p50
001); fewer students reported that they had
participated in group bullying (p50
05); and fewer students indicated that they could ``use
help from somebody'' (p50
05) to stop someone bullying them. All these results were
consistent with positive effects of anti-bullying activities.
By contrast, compared with the 1995 sample, more Year 9 students in the 1997 sample had
observed bullying in class and on the way to school (p50
01) and had been personally
threatened with harm and bullied by ``a group of students'' (p50
05). ``Telling'' others about
being bullied had become less common (p50
01); of those students who had told someone,
a higher proportion in 1997 reported that ``things had got worse'' (p50
01). Students in
1997 reported that they were less inclined to tell in circumstances in which they were bullied
daily (p50
01). Consistent with such macho attitudes, more Year 9 students in 1997
reported that they had engaged in bullying others in one-to-one situations and as members of
a group of students (p50
05 and p50
001, respectively).
As there were no signi®cant changes between 1995 and 1997 indicated on the Victim
Scale for Years 10 and 11, the results for these classes were combined for the more detailed
analyses. On none of the measures of kinds of bullying experienced were there signi®cant
differences between 1995 and 1997 samples (p40
05). However, the 1997 students
indicated that they had been less engaged as part of a group in bullying others (p50
05) than
the earlier sample. Moreover, they perceived less frequent bullying, speci®cally on the way to
school and on the way home (p50
05). They also judged that the safety of ``vulnerable
children'' was greater in 1997 (p50
05).
488 L. Petersen and K. Rigby

Generally, attitudes towards the school anti-bullying initiative were more positive
for senior students in 1997 sample. These students were signi®cantly more supportive
than their predecessors of the following statements: ``teachers and students should be
concerned about stopping bullying in this school'' (p50
05); ``teachers should try to stop it''
(p50
01); ``students themselves should help to stop it'' (p50
01); and ``students and
teachers should work together to stop bullying'' (p50
001). Thus although the experience of
being bullied had not become signi®cantly less common for senior students (but note that it
had been relatively low in 1995), there was consistent evidence that the senior students in
1997 were perceiving less bullying occurring among students of the school and were more
supportive of steps that could be taken by teachers, students, and teachers and students
together.

Student appraisals of measures to counter bullying

In September 1997 students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were asked a series of questions to be

answered anonymously about the effectiveness of 10 speci®ed programmes to decrease
bullying in the school. They were asked to indicate whether each programme had been
effective or whether they felt uncertain in giving their opinion. The results are given in
Table 3.
It is evident from Table 3 that the two most effective means of reducing bullying, as
perceived by students, were activities that clearly involved students: namely, the Student's
Welcomers Program and the Students' Anti-bullying Committee. Some of the programmes
produced a large proportion of ``don't know'' responses. This may have been because it was
particularly dif®cult to estimate consequences or because the programme was not widely

Table 3 Student evaluation of programmes: percentages responding

Program Yes (effective) Don't know No (ineffective)
The School Welcomers Program 46
5 30
8 22
7
for new enrolments
The Students' Anti-bullying Committee 32
2 35
5 32
5
and its activities
Publicising the Anti-bullying programmes 30
1 31
3 38
5
through the school newspaper and assemblies
Discussion between teachers and students 28
6 32
0 39
4
in class on the topic of bullying
Publication of the School's 27
0 36
2 36
8
Anti-bullying Policy
The Pikas method (Shared Concern) of 26
9 39
4 33
7
interviewing bullies and victims
The Year 7 Peer Support Anti-bullying 25
8 41
6 32
6
Program
The Peer Helpers Service and the Bully 25
3 39
0 35
7
Line Box
The Anti-bullying posters around 21
6 21
9 56
5
the school
The Personal Development/Health 18
7 39
0 41
7
Anti-bullying program
 Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school 489

known or understood. For example, some 41
6% of students responded ``don't know'' to the
Year 7 Peer Support Anti-bullying Program.
As one might expect, differences were found in the evaluations made by subgroups. With
respect to eight of the 10 programmes, girls responded signi®cantly more positively than boys:
by chi-square, p50
05. The exceptions were in relation to the anti-bullying posters and
discussions between teachers and students on the topic of bullying for which sex differences
were not signi®cant. Signi®cant differences (p50
001) were found between year-level groups
with respect to each of the 10 programmes with Year 9 students consistently least positive in
their appraisals.

Student comments on the anti-bullying programmes

Seventy-two students provided comments on bullying at the school. Of these, 25% expressed
clear approval of what had been done. Some comments were general: ``I think it is greatÐall
the Anti-Bullying things going on round the school'' (Year 8 student); ``Thank you for having
such an interest in stopping bullying'' (Year 10 student). A few gave examples of how they
had been personally helped: ``kids who have left a place have left their friends as well. When
they come to new school they need friends. I know this because I've moved many times. The
School Welcomers Program here is really important for people like me.'' (Year 7 student).
Regarding another program: ``I have bullied earlier in the year and now I don't because of the
Anti-Bullying Committee I joined'' (Year 7 student).
Nevertheless, many students expressed scepticism about whether bullying could be
stopped through any school programme. ``Bullying isn't going to stop. If you don't like
someone you hit them. The people being bullied should learn to ®ght.'' (Year 9 student).
``Anti-bullying'' wrote a Year 8 student, ``is a good idea but face itÐit doesn't work.'' Three
students in Year 10: ``I think bullying is something which just happens to everyone at every
school and no matter how hard they try to stop it, it will always happen''; ``Some kids are just
plain bullies and nothing said or done won't (sic) change that''; ``I don't think bullying will
ever stop. It will always be part of school life. I think talking about it only makes it worse. It
will just have to be accepted in schools.'' The sense of hopelessness is further re¯ected by a
comment from a Year 7 student: ``Well, I think no-one really wants to talk about it because
that only makes it worse.''
There were differences between students on how bullying might be stopped. Some saw the
use of punishment as the most effective method of curbing bullying: ``If you made
punishment for bullies a lot stricter, may be we'd see a difference'' (Year 10 student). Again:
``The bully should be suspended automatically''; ``I think punishing or threatening might
work'' (Year 7 students). On the other hand, some students favoured a direct educational
approach: ``I think the topics in class help a lot because in class you know everyone and they
listen and respect your opinions.'' (Year 7). Opinion was divided on the contribution that
teachers could make. Some were clearly negative: ``Teachers can't do anything to help. They
make things worse because the bully gets angrier because you dobbed''; ``I think teachers
should stay out of it sometimes, and let the kids work it out for themselves. They butt in too
much sometimes'' (Year 7 students); ``Teachers are the main bullies yet you focus on us''
(Year 8); ``Teachers should try to reason with students instead of yelling giving them
detentions. Usually bullies have a deep down problem that can make them become bullies
and until you ®nd that, they won't change.'' (Year 11 student). Others were positive about
490 L. Petersen and K. Rigby

the work of the school staff, for example: ``I think that bullying will go away with help from
teachers'' (Year 11).

Views of the Anti-bullying Committee

Invited to comment in writing on the effects of committee involvement, students responded

positively. For example: ``I have learnt not to tease people but to help them through tough
times.''; ``Well, it (the committee) helped me when I was getting bullied.''; ``It has taught me
other ways to handle problems without using my ®st.''; ``It has helped me a lot in getting over
some very traumatic treatment in primary school. It helped me a lot emotionally.'' In general,
students in the anti-bullying committee viewed their activities as not only helping others but
also as enhancing their own self-esteem and peer relations.

Discussion

Over a 2-year period the school engaged in developing ways of dealing with the problem of
bullying among Australian secondary students which emphasized the part that students
themselves could play. The gains in terms of reduced bullying were modest and limited to
students in their ®rst year of high school for whom it would appear the school had become a
safer place. Nevertheless, this was an important gain because bullying tends to be particularly
intense and often devastating for students at this stage in their schooling (Rigby, 1996). That
a signi®cant reduction was indicated for Year 7 students in 1997 on the psychometrically
reliable Victim Scale is particularly persuasive in view of the likelihood that the anti-bullying
campaign at the school would have increased the sensitivity and general awareness of
students about what constitutes bullying. The actual change was therefore probably
underestimated. The change at this level is also consistent with the fact that there was
speci®c targeting of Year 7 through the Peer Support Anti-bullying Program and the Personal
Development/Health curriculum focus on bullying. Year 7 students were also the most
numerous group in the Anti-bullying Committee.
Responses of students to questionnaire items, beyond Year 7, provide a mixed picture. Year
9 appeared to be particularly resistant to the campaign with students in that year in 1997
being victimized by peers more frequently and engaging in bullying others more often than
their predecessors. Many of these students were highly sceptical of the possibility that
bullying could be reduced. At the same time, there were signs that more senior students in
Years 10 and 11 had become more positive and optimistic. Even though being bullied by
others had not become less frequent according to the peer Victimization Scale there was a
perception among the 1997 group suggesting that bullying in general had become less
common and vulnerable children were safer. Particularly heartening were the results showing
that more students had become convinced that students and teachers should work together
to stop bullying (p50
001).
Whilst no clear attribution can be made for the reduced level of reported peer
victimization by Year 7 students in 1997 and more positive attitudes towards the anti-
bullying campaign among the most senior students, the student evaluation of programmes
suggests that student-led programmes were seen as the more effective: especially the School
Welcomers Program and the students' Anti-bullying Committee. Comments made by
 Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school 491

students also suggest that teacher interventions were sometimes viewed with suspicion and
as likely to prove counter-productive. Hence student initiatives to counter bullying at this
school appear to be highly desirable.
This study identi®ed Year 9 boys as the group in the school most resistant to reducing
bullying. This is consistent with earlier research which suggests that with successive years of
schooling macho attitudes become more and more entrenched, until towards the end of their
school lives when attitudes towards peer victimization become more constructive and less
cynical (Rigby, 1997c). In a relatively extreme bullying environment, aspects of the school
ethos may serve to encourage many mid-adolescent boys to engage in bullying as an
admirably tough way of behaving or as a means of survival in a school jungle. Arguably, anti-
bullying programmes could be seen as a direct attack upon prevailing ``masculine'' values of
this group. This may explain why, after 2 years of exposure to anti-bullying information,
reported peer victimization among Year 9 students appears to have increased together with
greater reluctance to seek help from others.
The implications from this study are ®rst that positive changes to reduce bullying can be
effective, at least with ®rst year students at a high school where a well-planned whole school
policy is implemented and students themselves play a key role in putting the programme into
effect. It is also suggested that senior students (beyond Year 9), among whom peer
victimization is relatively low, can become more strongly motivated to support co-operative
student/staff initiatives to reduce bullying. Finally, the dif®culties of reducing bullying in
schools should not be underestimated. Many students feel that the problem cannot be solved
and even that teachers are part of the problem. Effective early interventions of the kind
demonstrated in this study with Year 7 students may, in time, have the effect of preventing
the development of subsequent bullying behaviour and cynical attitudes towards what can be
done.

Acknowledgement

Support for this project was provided by the NSW Department of Education and Training,
especially through the assistance of Ms Kerry Williams. Thanks are also due to the Executive
and class teachers of Jamison High School in New South Wales for their generous
contribution.

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