A Closer Look

Autonomy Supported Teaching vs. External Regulation: The Facts About The Effectiveness of Anti Bullying Policies

Examining issues around cyber bullying prevention can often be an intensely personal and emotional issue to tackle. Because of the prevalence of social media in our everyday lives, it is difficult to avoid cyber bullying completely, especially as an adolescent growing up in the digital age. Thankfully being from a low income family kept me away from this new age bullying when I was growing up; but as technology is becoming more accessible to a greater range of socio economic classes, I know that my experience will not parallel that of the majority of young kids today. This widespread epidemic of the intensely emotional experience of cyber bullying makes it easy to turn anti cyber bullying policies into a ‘stock story’ of what it means to be a responsible citizen. The sense of urgency we feel after each news story of a child harming themselves makes us eager to jump on board with any policy that will prevent these tragedies from recurring. This combination of emotional responses, urgency, and parental pressure makes it possible for anti-bullying campaigns to move into our schools without being questioned. While some of these policies have proved effective to cut down on bullying over the years, these cases are sadly the exception rather than the rule. This statistic ignites an even greater sense of urgency in me and makes me wonder what effect these failing campaigns are having on students.

 Guy Roth’s article gives us insight as to what may be happening in schools where anti- bullying campaigns are failing. His study of 725 junior high students evaluated the effects of autonomy supported teaching versus external regulation of bullying. Autonomy supported teaching refers to the efforts of teachers to promote positive interactions among students and encourage moral development. External regulation refers to the tactics popular in many anti- bullying campaigns- monitoring student interaction, blocking social media sites, and shutting down any sign of confrontation immediately. These tactics also offer external rewards to students for complying with their efforts to cut down on bullying in their schools. Roth found that students who were exposed to the external regulation approach to stop bullying were actually more likely to engage in bullying other students. Additionally he found that younger students were even more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors toward peers after being exposed to external regulation tactics. Conversely, he found that students exposed to the autonomy supported approaches were less likely to engage in bullying and teasing online and face to face. So what do these findings mean? To begin, I think it means that we are currently in a very dangerous situation. Not only is cyber bullying an enormous threat to young kids because of the prevalence of technology, but we are now implementing programs that are actually pushing them to engage in this type of confrontation with their peers. Additionally, we are putting students at an even greater risk by exposing them to these programs at a young age- the group that Roth suggests is the most susceptible to adversely react to these campaigns. I feel that these findings should serve as a wake- up call to all of the teachers, administrators and parents that are still blindly pushing for a solution that is only perpetuating the problem. I think that it is time to step back from the whirlwind of opinions on cyber bullying and look at the facts before us- this model simply isn’t working. Once we accept this fact, we can begin to look at the models that are working and find ways to implement them effectively in our schools. I feel that the autonomy supported model that Roth suggests may be a good place to start.

Ms.Hunt and my classmates on a field trip in the MS Delta.

Reading about the autonomy supported model of teaching made me reflect on my own educational experience in high school. I was reminded of one of my teachers, Ms.Hunt, who seemed to embody this model with her teaching style. Ms.Hunt encouraged us from the first day of school to build a community in her classroom by respecting and acknowledging our own value as well as the value of others. We did this by taking the time to sit down together in a circle of old chairs and couches each day and begin class by talking about what something that was important to us that day. Usually people would bring in interesting or funny videos that they had discovered online to share with the group. Eventually we took our discussion group online and created a Facebook group for the class where we could have this type of community interaction outside of the classroom. I feel that this online space was successful because of the way that Ms. Hunt taught us to respect and appreciate what each of us contributed to our classroom community. I remember how thankful I felt to be a part of that community in a school that was very much plagued by bullying- cyber bullying in particular.

I feel that my experience in Ms. Hunt’s class is proof that it is possible to eliminate cyberbullying in today’s world. Because Ms. Hunt was able to show us that we all had value and were capable of being loved and appreciated, we were able to internalize a moral obligation to not only not be a cyber-bully, but to be an advocate for those who were victims of cyber bullying. I feel that this model is something that could absolutely be replicated in schools around the world. This movement towards more proactive cyber bullying efforts must begin with the examination of current policies in place that practice the external regulation model. If teachers, administrators, and parents were able to come together and thoughtfully consider research findings such as Roth’s, I truly believe that they would reconsider current anti- bullying programs. In fact, they may choose to shift their focus entirely from “anti bullying” to “pro peace”.

This phrase may sound a bit idealistic, but I truly believe that a pro peace approach to bullying is the best way to combat bullying in schools. What I mean by “pro peace”, is essentially the same model that Roth described with his autonomy supported system and the same approach Ms. Hunt took by building a community in her classroom. All of these ideas operate on the notion that students are capable of being compassionate and loving human beings. When we choose to put the power back into the hands of students and find ways to support them in creating school communities, then we will finally begin to see a change in the cyber bullying trends. To do this, we must first remove ourselves from the atmosphere of urgency that surrounds issues of bullying in schools. We owe it to our students to take the time to thoughtfully consider the implications that certain programs may have. We must also eliminate this notion that people who are against anti bullying campaigns are for bullying. This is a myth that is only impeding the process of creating a healthy and supportive environment that is conducive to moral and personal growth.

Roth, Guy; Yaniv Kanat- Maymon; Uri Bibi. Prevention of school bullying: The important role of autonomy-supportive teaching and internalization of pro-social values. The British Psychological Society. 2010.

Smith, David and Barry H. Schneider, The Effectiveness of Whole- School Antibullying Programs: A Synthesis of Evaluation Research. School Psychology Review, Vol. 33. No 4. 2004.