Page 65 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

from school, be involved in fights, steal property, commit vandalism and drop out
of school (Nansel et al., 2001 and 2003). It is important to establish effective and
sustainable anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies to create a safe and
productive school environment.
The study countries seek to combat bullying and discrimination through
direct and indirect guidance measures. Wider policy measures introduced to
improve school attainment and retention often indirectly seek to reduce the risk of
young people suffering from discrimination or bullying. More direct anti-bullying
and anti-discrimination initiatives, however, seem to address the problems more
effectively.
For example, the Olweus bullying prevention programme ( ) originates from
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Norway and has since been introduced in countries such as Iceland, Spain and
the US. It comprises four components: school-level (setting up a bullying
prevention coordinating committee); individual-level (developing individual
intervention plans for involved students); classroom-level (post and enforce
school-wide rules against bullying) and community-level (helping to spread anti-
bullying messages in the community). Olweus emphasises the importance of
taking a whole-school approach to tackling bullying.
Anti-discrimination measures have focused on specific issues. For example,
the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has implemented anti-
homophobia policies and practices at strategic and practical levels. A network of
experts has been established to raise the profile of the issue at strategic level.
Other initiatives have sought to provide practical support for young people
actively experiencing discrimination and/or bullying – the Gay school day project
(De Vrolijke Schooldag) encourages schools to review their diversity policies and
the Ministry has commissioned a website (www.gayandschool.nl) with a helpdesk
to provide schools with information and advice on this subject.
Anti-bullying and anti-discrimination initiatives are also increasingly using the
Internet to make it easier for young people to access help and advice when they
are in difficulty. Some young people may not feel comfortable going directly to an
adult or face-to-face service and may instead prefer to look for information online.
The charity Bullying UK hosts an extensive online platform to provide reliable
information on a variety of bullying issues to young people and their parents
(Bullying UK, http://www.bullying.co.uk/). The German website Student distress
call (Schüler-Notruf) is an online portal, which provides free advice for problems
relating to addiction, bullying, depression, violence and sexual harassment.

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( ) See: www.olweus.org [cited 1.3.2010].

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