According to UNESCO figures, two out of every 10 schoolchildren in the world suffer bullying, a sad reality that affects 246 million children and adolescents on planet
With the newly completed school year, we may cease to be aware of this very serious problem for a while. But it shouldn't be that way, since bullying doesn't rest on vacation, and the more we know about it, the more weapons we will have to fight it and put an end to this terrible scourge.
Why bullying is brewing in the Infant stage
Days before the end of the school year, the World Association of Early Childhood Educators (AMEI-WAECE) published a work coordinated by Dr. Martínez Mendoza, -piscologist and specialist in neurosciences and early childhood education-, aimed at teachers of Education Primary.
It addresses the problem of bullying and its relationship with the stage of Early Childhood Education, as well as sociometric methods and techniques that can be used by educators to work with the family and children on certain conditions and significant variables.
The analysis showed that although bullying does not manifest itself in the Infant stage (or at least not usual), it does begin to take shape at this time, and more specifically in the last year, in which students are between five and six years old.
According to experts, this stage is crucial for the child since a series of variables converge, among which two would stand out:
On the one hand, the mental and physical development of children with these ages, which would lead them to develop attitudes, behaviors and behaviors that could become dominant when they go to the Primary stage.
On the other hand, it has been observed that many of the children who later become bullies come from dysfunctional families, so this study focuses on the importance of the technical and educational staff of the Infant stage pay particular attention to children belonging to these types of families.
The importance of relationships in the group
In any case, it should be noted that although the fact of belonging to a functional family provides favorable conditions for a healthy overall development of children In their time at school, this does not mean that they will be "immune" to the possibility of becoming bullies.
And unfortunately, the issue of bullying is quite complex and is not limited exclusively to education received by the family, but other factors such as the child's friendships, and relationships and the role within the school group to which it belongs.
Therefore, the guide prepared by AMEI also focuses on analyzing how children's relationships work in a group, offering teachers very visual and quick information to detect rivalries between group leaders, their networks, isolated children, rejected children, misfits, "island" children who form a group apart from the general group ...
According to AMEI, it is essential that teachers, as well as making continuous assessments of the academic development of their students, also perform analyzes to observe the relationships between children.And it is that through the observation of behaviors and really becoming aware of the problem, particularities and differences between students can be detected, and work on it to avoid more serious situations.
