BULLYING by Introduction Bullying is an issue that happens both to children and to adults. It can happen anywhere including at home, at school or in the workplace (Ringrose & Renold, 2010:573). Bullying takes many forms and can affect the victims in different ways. When this incidence happens, its effects are far-reaching and require a well-structured solution to help those affected to go back to their normal lives. A brief account of an incident at school labelled or held up as bullying Tami experienced mistreatment at her school similarly to some of her year group girls. Thos who mistreat her physically abused her slapping her, pushing her, kicked and spat at her. She was also called demeaning names. This can be labelled as bullying because it happened repeatedly. The people who bullied Tami were girls she used to stay with, in school. Tami though they were her friends but they took advantage of her by telling her to pass their messages to boys and when she refused to do so, they threatened her not to be friends with her and also ensured that she would be friends with no one. They mistreated her and blamed a lot on her and it affected her because her performance in school dropped even though she was bright. This can be classified as bullying (Lazarus, Pfohl, Psyd & Green, 2010:3). When teachers noticed, Tami tried to defend the girls because she was afraid of what they would do to her. However, she later revealed what had transpired to the school’s anti bullying committee, which took action against them by suspending them for two weeks, reporting to the police and also to their parents. How and why this incident might be viewed as bullying According to development theory, bullying begins in early childhood when individuals start asserting themselves to establish their social dominance (Rigby, 2003:2). This theory captures the incidence that Tami experienced in school. In the school, the Anti-Bullying committee was initiated five years ago by volunteers who felt that bullying had become rampant and required urgent attention. The committee started with five members by increased to 23 members. According to the anti-bullying code identified in the school’s policy, all students must be of equal value, show respect to each individual, promote a safe environment and cooperative atmosphere for everyone. These requirements dictate that actions that make it difficult for a student to enjoy such privileges can be characterized as bullying. The committee received training from Child Line and Beat Bullying (a charity patronised by the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge) that taught them about the different types of bullying, what it can lead to, as well as how to sort out bullying situations and how to tell when the situation is too serious for us and when we need to pass it on to an adult. The members are all trained Sports Mentors and know how to use the skills to help children who are bullied. When the committee received the complaint and Tami told them what she was going through, the committee identified this as an aspect of bullying judging from the fact that they had all been trained on issues of bullying. They characterized the issue as one that would require urgent attention and took action in ensuring that those responsible for breaking the anti-bullying policy code were suspended from the school. Reasons why someone else might consider the incident to be an example of something other than bullying There are several reasons why someone else might consider the incident to be an example of something other than bullying. First, it may be considered to be something else unless it can be proved that Tami was unjustifiably singled out. Other girls in Tami’s year group also experienced the same problems that she went through. Some people consider mistreatment to be bullying only when it targets one individual (Thornberg, Halldin, Bolmsjö & Petersson, 2013:310). However, when it is intended for anybody or more people then, it might only be seen as bad behaviour from those doing it. Secondly, there are people including students or pupils who are always critical of everything, always take credit for successes and blame others for mistakes. They frequently make hurtful jokes or comments about others and also physically assault them. When this is not targeted at one person, it might represent poor social skills rather than bullying. Although the anti-bullying committee found that Tami had been bullied, the committee does not have a list of things, actions or comments that are characterized as bullying. There are issues, comments or actions that are considered harassment rather than bullying and are still illegal. Therefore, the suspension of those responsible for the ill actions and comments against Tami was the right thing to do but those actions might also be considered as harassment rather than bullying. Therefore, the issues might not be seen as bullying by someone with a different perspective on them. The ramification of classifying the incident as bullying There are several positive and negative ramifications of classifying the incident as bullying. In a positive way, classifying the incident as bullying ensures that no student will engage in a similar incident because now all students understand the consequences of such an incident. Students understand that they can be suspended or reported to the police for such an incident because it has brought about a learning experience for all students at the school (Swearer, Wang, Berry & Myers, 2014:271). Secondly, classifying the incident as bullying has provided the anti-bullying committee with a valuable experience because they can use the incident to provide an additional service to the school. This service will entail teaching students to look out for actions that their friends might do to them in the name of friendship but be bullying them in actual sense