No Blame Approach: A guide for teachers
Many teachers feel insecure when dealing with bullying. They fear that the situation will get worse if they intervene. The reality often proves them right: a half-hearted or unfavourable intervention can actually make the situation worse for the child being bullied. At the same time, it is extremely important that teachers are able to recognise bullying and respond appropriately. But what is appropriate?
There are few factors that contribute as much to good teaching as a good classroom climate. If this is poisoned by bullying, individual pupils can no longer engage with their lessons.
Bullying opens up an arena that triggers a high level of emotional involvement in all pupils and degrades lessons to a minor matter.
For children to be willing to learn, they need to feel safe. Only then can they open up to the content and participate in the lesson. If you are afraid of receiving a roll of the eyes or a groan for giving the wrong answer, it is better not to say anything. This creates a climate in which nobody wants to make a fool of themselves and thus provide a target.
As a teacher, you are responsible for dealing with bullying!
It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that every child can attend lessons without fear - regardless of the level you teach at and whether you are a subject teacher or class teacher. You can call in help in the form of a school social worker or the school management - but you are still responsible for your class.
As long as bullying is taking place in your class, you have a duty to address this problem. If external intervention does not lead to a significant improvement in the situation, it is up to you to enquire about other options and take action yourself.
If you were being bullied in your team, you would expect the school management to keep looking for a solution until the problem is solved. And that they don't just make a one-off attempt. After all, if you settle for a half-hearted solution to bullying, you strengthen the power of those involved and signal to them that they have the upper hand.
We can understand if you as a teacher feel insecure and helpless when a child in your class is being tormented. For this reason, we would like to provide you with as much concrete help as possible.
If the teacher interferes, the bullied child is often labelled a tattletale - and everything gets even worse.
We would also like to encourage you to intervene yourself. An external specialist may have a large repertoire of approaches and experience, but you have built up a strong relationship with your pupils and know the individual children. You can see whether your intervention is effective and whether something changes as a result - and you can pick up on and reinforce positive changes.
If you have managed to build a good relationship with your pupils, they will also be willing to support the bullied child for your sake. The No Blame Approach, which we describe below, builds on precisely these factors.
Counter bullying without penalties and blame - with the no-blame approach
The No Blame Approach, developed by Barbara Maines and George Robinson in England in 1991, sees bullying as a group event and aims to change the group dynamics in a class. It therefore consistently dispenses with blame and punishment.
We believe this makes sense for several reasons.
- Firstly, this takes the pressure off you as a teacher. As bullying usually takes place undercover, it is difficult for you as a teacher to get to the bottom of the «truth». This is particularly the case when it's a case of testimony against testimony and several pupils are covering up for the perpetrators.
- Secondly, blame immediately leads to the actors and followers (assistants and reinforcers, as they are called in the No Blame Approach) justifying their actions, denying them or blaming the bullied child.
- Thirdly, it can often be observed that the negative feelings towards the bullied child increase when the actors and followers are shamed or punished. The child concerned is then labelled a tattletale. It is not uncommon for hidden acts of revenge to take place, in which the child concerned is intimidated to such an extent that he or she keeps quiet about further incidents. The silence of those affected out of fear of the group's revenge is a major problem anyway.
- Fourthly, it is very stressful for the child concerned when they have to reveal everything, report embarrassing and humiliating incidents and provide evidence of their situation.
- Fifthly, without evidence, it is very difficult for you as a teacher to pronounce and enforce a punishment. The parents of those involved, who feel that their child is being treated unfairly, will soon be nipping at your heels.
- Sixthly, it is easy for the actors and accomplices to resort to offences that are invisible or difficult to punish. In these cases, the child concerned is usually isolated. The group shows its contempt by excluding him or her from games, treating him or her like air or harping on sore points with subtle gestures and ambiguous comments.
Due to these very dubious effects of penalties, we agree with the authors' recommendation that they should be avoided.
However, we would like to mention two exceptions:
- Bullying becomes less frequent in adolescence, but the intensity of bullying behaviour increases. If it results in a criminal offence (bodily harm, theft, damage to other people's property, trespassing, sexual assault), the police should be called.
- In the case of cyberbullying, i.e. video recordings, photos or rumours being spread online, the police should be called immediately. The reason: such content can spread uncontrollably quickly and is almost impossible to delete afterwards.
In all other cases, you can focus in every respect on improving the situation of the child concerned and at the same time working towards a more positive classroom climate.
Finding a solution with relationship and trust
Behind the no-blame approach is a basic attitude that is characterised by trust and appeals to the good in every child. The solution is not imposed from above. Instead, the children are invited to help find a solution and contribute their ideas. The implementation is voluntary and reaches the children for this very reason.
To break through the negative group dynamic, the children are actively assigned a new, positive role - that of the helper. A support group is formed consisting of six to eight children. Half of these are children who have contributed to the bullying.
The other half are children who have so far behaved neutrally or have tried to protect the bullied child. However, the teacher treats all children in the support group indiscriminately as helpers, to whom she has positive expectations and who she actively asks to help her improve the situation of the bullied child.
The word bullying is not used, nor are individual incidents addressed. However, the teacher makes it unmistakably clear that the child's situation must improve and that they need the group's help to do so. The approach consists of three steps.
The book «No Blame Approach. Mobbing Intervention in Schools» by Heike Blum and Detlef Beck (Fairaend, 2014). Written sequences of conversations ensure confidence in implementation and specific questions provide suggestions on how to initiate and organise the conversations.
STEP 1: The conversation with the affected child
The first step is to talk to the child concerned. Care is taken to make it as easy as possible for the child to open up. The child is assured of confidentiality and that nothing will be done without their consent. Make sure that the conversation takes place in an undisturbed place and that classmates do not overhear.
For example, the child can be asked to clean the blackboard at the end of the last lesson. You can start the conversation by first addressing your observations, for example by saying: «I've noticed that you've been playing alone at break time recently and are less cheerful than you used to be...» Don't go into detail. It is enough that the child agrees with you.
It's important to me that all children are well. Would you like to hear my idea?
How to talk to the affected child
The next step is to inspire confidence in the child that their situation can be changed and that you will persistently support them in doing so. For example, you could say: «It is very important to me that you are doing well in my class. I also have an idea of how we can make that happen. Would you like to hear it?»
At this point, the procedure (steps 2 and 3) is described to the child and their consent is obtained. The child is asked to give the names of the children who are currently responsible for the fact that he or she is not feeling well - as well as some children who are behaving in a neutral or friendly manner. With this information, the second step is initiated.
STEP 2: Form a support group
A support group is formed based on the information provided by the child concerned. Six to eight children are invited to join this group. In consultation with a subject teacher, the children are taken out of class during lessons. The children have previously received a written invitation asking them for help. In the book by Detlef Beck and Heike Blum you will find various templates for this.
Important: The child concerned is not invited.
Participation in the group would be a great burden for the bullied child and would make it difficult for the actors and followers to take on a new role!
The children are welcomed. As a teacher, you describe your concerns. Make it clear that you are no longer happy with the class because the child concerned is not feeling well. You can also emphasise how important it is to you that all the children in the class feel comfortable and safe. This point is important because some pupils will be very motivated to help you.
Every child was invited as a helper. It is therefore important to treat every child as such. For example, it is also said to an actor that he was invited because he has a lot of good ideas and the others give a lot of weight to his opinion. The book provides good suggestions on how to deal with blame among the children.
With the help of the group, ideas are then collected that will make the child concerned feel comfortable again and enjoy going to school again. In many cases, it is the children who have not been involved in the bullying who are the first to make suggestions. Encouraged by the teacher, the followers (reinforcers and assistants) then also join in with ideas.
The children from whom the bullying originated are made aware that the tide is turning and that they can no longer expect to receive recognition and encouragement for further actions. As a result, they are usually prepared to at least refrain from further actions or even take on the role of helper and cooperate.
Once each child has made a suggestion, the responsibility is handed over to the group. Anyone who wants to can now put their suggestion into practice. At the end, a date is set for a follow-up discussion.
Other methods:
- Courageous against bullying - for sustainable prevention work
- Stop is the end - setting boundaries in difficult school classes
- Multi-level programme for learning a conflict culture
STEP 3: The follow-up discussion
The follow-up discussion ensures commitment. The children know that you, as the teacher, are staying on the ball and actively working to improve the situation. One to two weeks after forming the support group, invite each child individually to a discussion and ask them to assess the situation.
The first interview is conducted individually with the child concerned, the others with the members of the support group in private.
Who will be informed about the measures?
The children in the support group are free to decide whether they want to tell other children or their parents about the group.
However, as a teacher, you do not have to inform anyone.
It makes sense to explain the procedure to the parents of the child concerned and to address any concerns. The parents are usually very happy that something is being done. However, it is often necessary to explain to the parents why punishments are not being used. At the same time, parents should be asked to refrain from taking action themselves.
Ask the parents to inform you if there is no improvement or if the bullying starts again after a successful intervention.
The parents of the other children are not normally informed. If parents approach you with questions and want to know why their child is a member of the support group, for example, you can briefly explain that a child is not well and that you have asked your child for help.
It would run counter to the approach if you told the parents that their child is an actor or follower, as every child in the group is seen as a helper. Your efforts would be thwarted if, for example, the parents of the actor punished their child at home.
