Being an active bystander
Bystanders play an important role in reducing bullying at school. By learning about the actions they can take if they witness bullying, students will feel more confident about standing up and doing something.
Year level
7-10
Duration
5 minutes
Type
In class activity
Online learning
SEL Competencies
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Learning intention
Students learn strategies for standing up to bullying and discriminatory behaviour.
Key outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
identify actions they can take to stand up to bullying or discriminatory behaviour.
Materials needed
Pen and paper.
Mapped to
Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Examine the roles of respect, empathy, power and coercion in developing respectful relationships (AC9HP8P04)
Evaluate the influence of respect, empathy, power and coercion on establishing and maintaining respectful relationships (AC9HP10P04)
Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities
Personal and Social Capability:
Self-awareness
Self-management
Social awareness
Social management
Ethical Understanding:
Responding to ethical issues
Critical and Creative Thinking:
Reflecting
NSW PDHPE Syllabus
Investigates effective strategies to promote inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships (PD4-3)
Analyses factors and strategies that enhance inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships (PD5-3)
Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Investigate the benefits of relationships and examine their impact on their own and others’ health and wellbeing (VCHPEP127)
Investigate how empathy and ethical decision-making contribute to respectful relationships (VCHPEP146)
Activity 1
Instructions
5 minutes
Explain to students that it can be hard to know what to do if they see behaviour they think could be bullying or discrimination.
Ask students to divide their page into three columns:
Title the first column ‘Body language’.
Title the second column ‘Indirect actions’.
Title the third column ‘Communication’.
Students then populate the columns with actions they can take if they witness bullying or discrimination. For example:
Stand closer
Befriend the person, call a teacher over
Saying that it's not okay.
Debrief
Explain to students that there are many things they can do if they witness bullying of any type. Any action is better then doing nothing at all. It doesn’t have to be direct intervention. Instead, they could report the incident or make others aware of it.
