Bullying at school affects an estimated 1.
5
Bullying at school: the
no-blame approach
Lorraine Demko
The author
Lorraine Demko is Senior Health Promotion Adviser for
Eastern Surrey Health Promotion, which is now part of the
newly formed Eastern Surrey Health Commission. She can
be contacted on 01372 731015 for more information on
this project.
Abstract
Describes a pilot project conducted in an independent
boys school to introduce the no-blame approach for
dealing with bullying. The approach was developed by
Barbara Maines and George Robinson. It puts the empha-
sis on the effect of bullying on the victim. Instead of being
punished, bullies are involved in looking at how their
actions have affected the victim. Summarizes the lessons
learned from the pilot, including the need for better
training for teachers at schools trying to implement the
approach. The method is now being promoted by Eastern
Surrey Health Commission. Since the pilot project, 12
independent schools in the East Surrey area have adopted
the no-blame approach using the model designed as a
result of the pilot.
Health Education
Number 1 January 1996 pp. 2630
MCB University Press ISSN 0965-4283
26
million young people, making it probably the
most underrated problem in Britains schools
today. Bullying can cause mental health prob-
lems which may affect people long after their
school days are over. Pupils academic success
may also be at risk if they feel threatened and
intimidated.
Persistent bullying may be verbal, physical
or psychological, or a combination of these. It
can include kicking, shoving, name-calling,
intimidation or torment, as well as the fear of
being bullied. Apart from making the victim
miserable, bullying can lead to bedwetting,
nightmares, faking illness, truancy, physical
injury and, in extreme cases, to suicide.
There is, however, no evidence to suggest
that the conventional method of tackling
bullying punishment of the bully is effec-
tive. A new and somewhat controversial
method of tackling bullying in schools the
no-blame approach is therefore being pro-
moted by Eastern Surrey Health Commission
to see if it can reduce the incidence of bullying
behaviour, and encourage the victims to tell
others what has happened.
Research carried out by Peter Smith of the
Department of Psychology at the University
of Sheffield, for the Department for Educa-
tion[1], showed that most victims do not tell
anyone. The no-blame approach is controver-
sial because it rejects punitive ways of dealing
with bullying behaviour, in favour of a non-
punitive approach. Eastern Surrey Health
Promotion believes that if punitive ways of
dealing with bullying worked, bullying would
not present such an enormous problem.
Group dynamics
The no-blame approach is a whole-school
approach. It relies on group dynamics and the
empathy of the group members. The method
puts the emphasis on the effects of bullying on
the victims feelings and emotions, rather than
on the ins and outs of what occurred. You do
need to know who was involved in the bullying
incident. Instead of being punished, bullies
are involved in looking at how their actions
have affected the victim.
The approach was developed by Barbara
Maines, an educational psychologist in Avon,
and George Robinson, Director of Studies at
the West of England University[2,3]. When
implemented effectively, research has shown
 Bullying at school: the no-blame approach
Lorraine Demko
that it will reduce bullying to extremely low
levels[4].
The aim of the Surrey project was to intro-
duce schools to the no-blame approach. This
project was funded by the Department of
Public Health in Eastern Surrey Health Com-
mission, in response to the report on the
ChildLine Bullying Line[5] on the incidence
of bullying reported in independent, day and
boarding schools.
This article reports the findings of the pilot
study into the implementation of the no-
blame approach. After the pilot was complet-
ed, 12 independent schools in the East Surrey
area adopted the no-blame approach using
the process developed as a result of the pilot.
This project is now available to all schools in
the Eastern Surrey area free of charge. It is
currently being funded by the Eastern Surrey
Health Promotion.
Aims
My aim was first, to find out the extent and
type of bullying taking place in a boys
preparatory school; second, to identify the
most appropriate strategy to help the school
to deal with it, and third, to evaluate the
success of the strategy. In the summer of
1993, a questionnaire was distributed to 148
pupils aged seven to 13 attending a boys
preparatory school. The questionnaire was
anonymous, but boys could sign it if they
wanted. Any boy who signed the question-
naire was followed up by the school. The aim
of the questionnaire was to identify where
bullying was taking place, what form it took
and how pupils wanted the school to inter-
vene. The results obtained were also used
later to help assess how much the incidence of
bullying had fallen since the beginning of the
project.
More than 80 per cent of pupils said
that a little bullying went on in the
school and more than half had actually
experienced bullying
More than 80 per cent of pupils said that a
little bullying went on in the school and more
than half had actually experienced bullying.
More than 80 per cent said they would speak
to someone if bullied: almost three-quarters
27
Health Education
Number 1 January 1996 2630
of the sample said they would speak to parents
and almost half said they would talk to their
friends. More than a third of the sample said
they were worried about being bullied at
school.
When asked what the school could do to
stop bullying, more than a quarter of the
pupils suggested punishment, more than a
third recommended intervention by the
school, fewer than a quarter wanted more
staff on duty and about one in seven suggested
that bullies should be expelled (see Figures 1
and 2).
Staff from the school and from Eastern
Surrey Health Promotion discussed various
options[2,3,6]. One possibility was to orga-
nize bully courts, which use peer pressure to
change the behaviour of the bully. Another
was to introduce a suggestion box in which
pupils would place ideas about what punish-
ment would be appropriate. The disadvantage
to this scheme is that teachers have no control
over what suggestions are made, and this may
lead to retribution by the bully.
The third option was the no-blame
approach. As described in Stamp out Bully-
ing[3], it involves implementing seven steps:
(1) Take an account from the victim who
must be really listened to. The circum-
stances in which the bullying took place
are not important, but its effects are.
Note the feelings expressed, and allow the
victim to elaborate at length, through
talking, pictures and writing.
(2) Convene a meeting of all those involved in
the bullying to include no more than
eight people. Those attending should
include the chief instigators and observers
or those who colluded by failing to inter-
vene. The victim should not be present at
this meeting.
(3) Explain that there is a problem for the
victim and clearly describe the distress
caused by the bullying.
(4) Instead of attributing blame, state that
you know that members of the group are
responsible and can do something about
it.
(5) Ask all the group members if they can
make suggestions on how they could help.
Do not extract a promise of improved
behaviour.
(6) Arrange to meet the group a week later to
check progress.
 Bullying at school: the no-blame approach
Lorraine Demko
Figure 1 A poem written by a boy at the school where the
pilot project on the no-blame approach to bullying took
place
Figure 2 This pupil had no doubts about the correct course of action
28
Health Education
Number 1 January 1996 2630
(7) Throughout, convey your belief that the
young people are not bad, that they are
capable of kind behaviour and that they
will help the victim.
The deputy head of the school thought that
the no-blame approach complemented exist-
ing codes of practice within the school and
would work well with existing lines of commu-
nication between pupils, teachers and parents.
The school therefore decided to implement
the approach.
Its first step was to organize small discus-
sion groups with pupils to talk about what it
would feel like to be bullied, what they would
do if they were bullied or saw someone else
being bullied. At this stage, only the deputy
head had received training on the no-blame
approach. At these meetings, teachers
explained how the no-blame approach works.
They stressed that bullies would not be pun-
ished and that victims would receive support
and advice from one of two teachers appoint-
ed to deal with such problems .
Building on work already done at the
school and the data from the questionnaire,
the school developed a policy on bullying
which was circulated to the head, deputy
head, the director of studies and the school
governors before being disseminated to staff,
pupils, parents and governors. It included
sections on the following:
Our aim for your son.
Definitions of the bully and the victim.
Where does bullying take place?
The results of the survey.
Procedure for incidents for pupils, teachers
and parents.
The school appointed two members of staff to
deal with bullying incidents and to liaise with
all other staff on such problems. The policy
was implemented in September 1993.
Evaluation
In the spring of 1994, two terms after intro-
duction of the policy, a second questionnaire
was administered to the same 148 pupils to
evaluate its effectiveness. The results of this
questionnaire showed that, while there had
been some reduction in bullying, the school
had not fully implemented the approach.
More than half of the pupils felt that the
incidence of bullying had reduced. A quarter
felt that it was the same. Almost half of the
 Bullying at school: the no-blame approach
Lorraine Demko
pupils said they had been bullied in their class
or year, and that they had talked to someone
about it. More than half of those who said
they had been bullied had not talked to some-
one about it. Just over half said their class or
tutor group teacher had not talked to them
about bullying. A similar proportion said they
would like to spend more time talking about
and looking at bullying in more detail.
The evaluation highlighted the need for
more preventive work and better communica-
tion within the school to ensure that pupils,
staff and parents understood the approach
and felt confident about using it. For exam-
ple, it was felt that not all bullying incidents
were being reported, and that bullying was
still occurring in the playground, although
staff had increased their vigilance.
The main problem appeared to be that
by the time the message about the
approach reached the pupils and
teachers (via the deputy head), it was
greatly weakened. Staff had no clear
understanding of how the approach
worked, or the philosophy behind it
The main problem appeared to be that by the
time the message about the approach reached
the pupils and teachers (via the deputy head),
it was greatly weakened. Staff had no clear
understanding of how the approach worked,
or the philosophy behind it. Many pupils said
that they had not been informed about the
approach. The school therefore decided to set
up a working party to plan half-day training
sessions for pupils.
Lack of success
The no-blame approach was not totally suc-
cessful in this pilot project because of several
factors. These included:
Lack of training for all members of the
teaching staff on issues related to bullying
and the no-blame approach.
Lack of clear objectives in the planning of
the work on bullying which was carried out
with the pupils.
Lack of training for parents on issues relat-
ed to bullying and the no-blame approach,
including the need for parents to co-oper-
ate with the schools policy on bullying.
29
Health Education
Number 1 January 1996 2630
Parents should not advise their children to
tackle the bullies themselves: by definition,
the victims do not have the skills or
resources to deal with the problem and
could end up feeling even more helpless.
There was little uptake of the support that
was available from the health promotion
unit, the educational psychology depart-
ment or the school nursing service.
To help other schools, the head, deputy head
and the director of studies drew up recom-
mendations with the support of the health
promotion unit on the best way of implement-
ing the no-blame approach. These are as
follows:
Provide a comprehensive training pro-
gramme with clear objectives for the whole
school community. This should enable the
school to implement the no-blame
approach as part of a whole-school
response to bullying behaviour.
Hold an awareness-raising day, looking at
issues around bullying and the no-blame
approach.
Provide INSET training by an experienced
practitioner on the no-blame approach to
all teaching and support staff.
Make use of consultancy services to
schools, so that the school has professional
support when developing its own anti-
bullying policy.
Plan and support work with the children on
increasing awareness of and understanding
the process of bullying, for example,
through drama, art and poetry.
Explore what it is like to be a bully and to
be a victim and demonstrate that bullying
is not acceptable to the school.
Hold parents workshops to inform and
train parents on the no-blame approach.
Hold follow-up workshops, to enable
teachers to share their experiences and
models of good practice within their
school.
Conclusions
The pilot study showed that if the no-blame
approach is to reduce bullying, the whole
school must be committed to it. A cascade of
information on its own cannot give a clear
understanding of how this approach to bully-
ing is best implemented or of the group
 Bullying at school: the no-blame approach
Lorraine Demko
dynamics involved in bullying. Before teach-
ers, or anyone else, can understand the effects
of bullying, they need first to understand the
pain and suffering to enable them to
empathize with the victims. The pilot has
shown that if teachers are to achieve this,
schools need to receive adequate training,
advice and support from appropriate profes-
sionals.
Teachers need to have clear and achievable
goals if they are to reduce bullying behaviour.
Following the pilot study, the health promo-
tion unit now adopts the model described
above when introducing new schools to the
no-blame approach.
Feedback from parents whose boys were at
the school where the pilot project was con-
ducted has been very encouraging. Parents
were informed by a letter that accompanied
the anti-bullying policy that the school has
been a front-runner in addressing bullying
behaviour and reassured that if they report an
incident of bullying, the school will deal with
it swiftly and effectively.
The school involved in this pilot project has
now adopted the new procedure for imple-
menting the no-blame approach.
30
Health Education
Number 1 January 1996 2630
References
1 Department for Education, Bullying: Dont Suffer in
Silence: An Antibullying Pack for Schools, HMSO,
London, 1994.
2 Maines, B. and Robinson, G., Michaels Story...the No-
blame Approach, Lame Duck, Bristol, 1991.
3 Maines, B. and Robinson, G., Stamp out Bullying,
Lame Duck, Bristol, 1991.
4 Maines, B. and Robinson, G., The no-blame approach
to bullying, paper presented to the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science, Psychology
Section, September 1994.
5 La Fontaine, J., Bullying: The Childs View An
Analysis of Telephone Calls to ChildLine about
Bullying, available from Turnaround Distribution Ltd,
27 Horsell Road, London N5 1XL. Price 4.50 + 1
p&p.
6 Elliott, M. (Ed.), Bullying: A Practical Guide to Coping
for Schools, Longman/Kidscape, London, 1991.
Further information
Information on training courses and resources on the no-
blame approach is available from: Lame Duck
Enterprises, 10 South Terrace, Redland, Bristol BS6
6TG. Tel: 0117 973 2881.