Cast a popular child in the defender role-play¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

In the onlooker role-play week, teachers were advised that the defender role should be played by a popular child, because research indicates popular children can be an influential resource in changing classroom attitudes to bullying. The article notes that ideas from students with higher peer social status are more likely to be valued, while ideas from lower-status students are likely to be ignored or rejected, so "awareness of the influence of the popular child as a defender was crucial to the overall success of class group endeavours to counteract and prevent bullying".

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teacher knowledge of which pupils hold high peer social status
• Modelled and improvised role-plays in which learners practise reporting bullying and defending the victimised child

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Primary school class groups

Target Learning Goals¶

• Willingness to defend victimised peers and report bullying

Related Strategies¶

• Coach confident defending behaviours through the Confident Behaviours Exercise

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Peadar Donohoe and Carmel O’Sullivan. (2015). The Bullying Prevention Pack: Fostering Vocabulary and Knowledge on the Topic of Bullying and Prevention using Role-Play and Discussion to Reduce Primary School Bullying. Scenario, Volume 2015 · Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.9.1.6