|
OSSTF District 11- Thames Valley
|
District 11 Office |
Education Matters Online
Features
Volume 3, Issue 5: June 27, 2005
Bullying: Make it STOP!By Nancy McDougall, Federation Services Officer |
 Registration |
 Registration |
Elgin-Middlesex-Oxford |
 Door Prizes |
 Workshop Participants |
 Jane Hulme |
 Rich Hitchins |
 Ray Hughes |
 Ray Hughes and Leroy Hibbert |
Across the country, bullying is receiving
increased attention by schools, the general public, the media and and the
police. More and more, our members find themselves in unsafe work conditions
and our students find themselves involved in unsafe situations both inside
and outside of school. Provincial OSSTF, in the 2005-2006 Annual Action Plan
passed last March at AMPA, made a commitment to develop a new
train-the-trainer workshop on the topic of anti-bullying and
anti-harassment. It also proposed the development of materials in order to
address the issues of homophobia and inclusion which will be used to train
district and bargaining unit leaders to ensure that our members understand
the importance of working with and representing all members.
The District 11 Educational Services and Human Rights/Status of Women
Committees jointly sponsored a dynamic series of workshops titled Bullying:
Make It STOP! on Thursday, May 5, 2005. The event, which was attended by
sixty-three District 11 members, was held at the Delta Armouries Hotel in
London. Members each attended two of four workshops on topics including girl
bullying, harassment in the workplace, racism and self-image and gender
orientation bullying. Following the workshop sessions, participants enjoyed
a delicious buffet dinner and everyone received a door prize of some sort.
Comments following the event were all positive.
The four workshops were as follows:
 | Jane Hulme, Executive Assistant from the OSSTF Provincial Office, in her workshop titled "Harassment in the Workplace", provided members with an overview of what bullying in the workplace looks like and the effect it has upon the bullied, the bully and the bystanders. Measures to prevent bullying and strategies to deal with bullying in the workplace were also discussed and literature was circulated. |
| Rich Hitchens, Programming Manager and Public Educator from the Association for the Elimination of Hate, was a dynamic speaker on the topic of "Gender Orientation Bullying". Rich addressed hate within the London area, with particular reference to the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transvestite community. He shared practical ideas for confronting such hate, including speaking back to homophobia. |
| Although bullying is not a new phenomenon, what is relatively new is the growing awareness of the roles played by girls as bullies, victims and bystanders. Ray Hughes, National Coordinator of the Fourth R Project, during his presentation entitled "Girl Bullying" explored the culture of girl aggression with workshop participants and discussed what members can do to address this issue. |
| The presenter for the final workshop, "Race Relations and Self Image", was Leroy Hibbert Jr. from London Urban Services Organization (LUSO). Leroy provided participants with an understanding of the differences between prejudice, stereotype, discrimination and racism and the various forms that they take. He discussed how youth perceive themselves and those around them and provided suggestions as to how to assist young people in having healthy self images. |
OSSTF District 11 would like to express their thanks to the members of the planning committee for such a well-planned and informative event. Committee members included: Kathy Wildfong, Chair of Educational Services, Bryan Smith, Chair of Human Rights/Status of Women, Deb Mountenay, Elgin Middlesex Oxford Local Training Board, Don Edgar, East Elgin S.S., Keith Falconer, East Elgin S.S., Carolyn Gaskin, PSSP Bargaining Unit, Jennifer Hillis, College Avenue S.S., Sandra Miller, PSSP Bargaining Unit, Joe Mountenay, Arthur Voaden S.S., and Heather Reid, Clarke Road S.S.
