Following this conversation Ann asked the teacher,
to arrange a group discussion with the girls that Clara
had said were kind to her (their parents were asked for
permission for the girls to join the group discussion).
Once permission was given, all the girls agreed to be
part of the group discussion.
At the first meeting they started with light-hearted
conversation about themselves to help them get to know
each other. Ann gave an introduction and an overview of
what the purpose of the group was and what they could
do to help Clara to make life more enjoyable at school.
As the girls talked, Ann wrote down each suggestion
from the group members and they promised to support
Clara and follow the suggestions they had made. The
following week they met again to evaluate how these
suggestions had affected Clara’s situation in school.
These group talks continued for some weeks until Clara
said that her days at school were much better and she
had made nice friends to socialize with at school.
One of the aims of the group meetings was to develop
empathy for the victim of bullying from her peers,
but not to discuss the bullying itself. By asking all the
group members if they remember any day at school
when they felt unhappy or had a problem, this became
generalized and not focused on the one child. The group
members then made suggestions about how to help the
child experiencing the bullying. It is important that
these suggestions are written down, taken seriously and
that credit given to all ideas. Some of the suggestions
included playing together in their free time, eating
lunch and doing group work together. It was also equally
important that the suggestions came from the group
members.
These talks worked well with groups of between
five and seven children. This is in line with the advice
suggested for the size of focus groups in social science
research (six to eight) (Tang and Davies, 1995). The
pupils were encouraged to focus their discussion on
what was better since the last meeting (if they were
getting along better) and how to improve the situation.
While this is going on, the facilitator should praise
the group and the bullied child for any progress they
make.