Bully Safe

BullySafe™ is an educational card game based on a systems approach to reducing bullying behaviour. All children have been involved in bullying incidents, whether as a target, a bully, or a bystander. Players learn that everyone can play an important role in reducing bullying. The target of the bullying will become the victim if he/she cannot stop the bullying attempt. In addition, the bystander who laughs when the bully makes fun of another student is unwittingly rewarding the bully with the status he/she seeks and encouraging more bullying.

Like other behaviour, bullying is not random, rather, it is motivated by specific goals. Most bullying is motivated by social goals, such as status, popularity, power, having fun, etc. The game emphasises that all students in the school community have the ability to support bullying or to discourage it. Students learn concrete, non-violent skills to use in bullying situations. In addition to the game’s systems approach, it differs from most other approaches to bullying in two important respects. First, it pays attention to the potentially positive role of the bystanders. Second, it gives bullies positive skills to use to achieve their goals without resorting to bullying behaviour.

The game box includes rules for both cooperative play and competitive play. In each version players read Situation cards that describe typical middle school bullying behaviour. Players then offer advice to the target, the bystanders, or the bully (on how the bully can achieve goals using pro-social skills instead of bullying). Players earn tokens for their sound advice. In order to facilitate learning and help the players give sound advice, the game includes a list of non-violent skills that targets and bystanders can use to reduce and stop bullying. Players also learn when it is appropriate to seek help from a trusted adult.

Players: 2-5

Grades 5-8

Learning Objectives – Players:

1. learn that all students have an important role to play in preventing bullying;
2. learn skills that they can use to prevent and discourage bullying if they are targets of bullying;
3. learn skills that they can use to prevent and discourage bullying if they are bystanders, whether they are present at the bullying or hear about the bullying before it takes place or later on;
4. learn that people use bullying behaviour to achieve certain goals and what those goals tend to be;
5. learn positive skills that former bullies use to achieve their goals without bullying.