Peer Support in Action
PEER SUPPORT IN THE S.A.V.E. PROJECT
By R. Del Rey, R. Ortega and H. Cowie
PEER SUPPORT
The effective of the peer support programme are nowadays known, due to the numerous experiences that are being developed successfully, between them we find the programme which propose Professor Helen Cowie (Cowie and Sharp, 1996). Everybody knows that when somebody encounters a problematic situation peers tend to understand The problem and to help and support them. In this sense adults have to discard, on many occasions, their capacity to intervene against the bullying problem, because a theme that has been debated is: if peers who help a friend are capable of doing The same thing with a peer with whom they have no friendly relations, they have the necessary abilities needed in the counsellors developed by the Peer Support programme. In reply to these doubts about the empathatic capacities of peers some programmes of Peer Intervention have already been evaluated and they obtained very positive results. Among these, the proposal of Cowie and Naylor (1999) maintains that children vary significantly in their capacity to become "qualified navigators in the sea of interpersonal relations".
However, it is certain that some problems appear when the processes of peer support are put into practice. Those who demonstrate a desire to help peers immersed in a bullying problem don't know how to do it or are afraid that their intervention will provoke bad consequences of intimidation that originally were intended for others. The result is that although peers can be sympathetic with their other peers there are some factors, which prevent them from showing this empathy, which usually provoke more feelings of isolation and incomprehension in the victim.
From our point of view Peer Support Programmes are destined for the certain number of pupils that endure difficulties of social integration and who are at risk of seeing themselves involved in the phenomenon of bullying. They are children, who do to their personal characteristics or because they have had negative social experiences, or the are caught up in a difficult moment of social development, are more vulnerable than others to being swept up in problems of abuse, bad treatment or interpersonal violence.
Although the type of relationship which is integral in this type of programme is similar to the use of therapeutic listening which is proposed by some clinical psychology perspectives, there are big differences with respect to the therapeutic sessions. Among these we can mention the role of the counsellor because it is qualitatively different from a professional that has no responsibility over those they must help, only the moral establishment of their desire to help.
On the other hand we consider the setting up of a programme of Peer Support to be impossible without the decisions of the teacher, the orientation group (counsellor), generally adults who have any educational responsibilities: we think that the peer counsellor children have to become tutors of their peers, while still being tutored by adults.
Mainly, we try to channel the capacity for self-help between peers, in a formal programme which, at the same time is as effective for the children that need help and for the children who can give help to others, but sometimes outside adult supervision is needed.
CONTEXT OF THE PEER SUPPORT IN S.A.V.E. PROJECT
At the end of 1995 we started what we now recognise as the Seville Anti-School Violence project (S.A.V.E.) linked to an investigation project in which the University of Seville team, co-ordinated by Rosario Ortega, proposed to explore more about school bullying between peers. At that time the problem of bullying between peers wasn't the principle preoccupation neither of our teachers nor of our educational authority, as the general public didn't consider it a problem either. Horrible events in other countries, such as suicide and murders between adolescents, were explained away as differences between cultures and were never interpreted as things that could happen in our country. Instead other school problems like indiscipline, disruptivity, aggression etc. were recognised, but not bullying and the distinct intentions it implies.
At the same time a parallel Educational Reform regulated by a General Law of the Education System (LOGSE) was implemented, and still continues, in which our educational authority restructured compulsory education, under the assumption that Spanish children must be educated from six to sixteen years of age. At the same time they hoped to improve the quality of teaching with the inclusion of formal methods and other initiatives, such as the permanent refreshing of teacher's knowledge and the presence of a counsellor in each secondary school. These last two innovations were of great importance for the design and development of our model of intervention and facilitated intermediate channels of actualisation. The counsellor, qualified in psychology and pedagogy, works in the Obligatory Secondary Education centres watching over, especially, attention to diversity and the professional acts of the teachers. They are important for the development of a model which is as preventative (forming and advising the teachers) as direct intervention, like specific programmes for children with special needs.
Inside this context of acts addressing problems of bad relations between peers an exploration was started using a questionnaire (Ortega, Mora-Merchan and Mora, 1995) which tried to find out about children's perceptions of their relationships in school and, more concretely, about bullying situations between peers. What became clear was that this problem was also present in our schools and that we needed to start countering it. We informed every group of teachers of the results from every section of the questionnaire completed by their students which at the same time provoked, in a large number of the teachers, surprise and the desire to start tackling this problem which they were beginning to perceive as much closer to their daily educational work.
As a first step in this new educational challenge the University team designed an educational intervention model: the S.A.V.E. It were inspired by whole police from Sheffield project (Smith and Sharp, 1994) and it is composed of five programmes dedicated to three different areas of action: preventative work which has three programmes dedicated to it, namely management of democratic communal living, co-operative group work and the education of feelings and values; also intervention in children at risk; and intervention with directly implicated children in bullying situations. In the same way the model proposes general orientations of intervention to the teachers of every centre to start the design of their own educational project of the education of interpersonal relations. These measures were voluntary, and so we only worked with teachers who showed the desire to combat violence. This idea complicated the co-ordination, the advising and following of different groups of teachers working against bullying, although it makes the teachers feel as if the project is their own, a project adapted totally to what the teachers considered more necessary for their pupils. At the same time working groups enrich themselves by sharing and discussing their personal experiences and different ways of tackling bullying. Inside of this context, and after two academics courses dedicated mainly to the first preventative area, we have started to implement intervention with students at risk during the present course, through a peer support em in different ways depending on the group of people we were talking about. The relationships with their mates had improved and they had even found good friends in the counsellor children group. On the other hand, although their relationships with the teacher had improved, they hoped a different kind of help from them, because it was a control one instead of and advice one. They did not find the teachers implication that they were looking for. A girl said: "They have done everything in a wrong way. When we needed help they were not there, and when we did not need them they were hassling us", "We have felt helpless except for one teacher". With the counsellor, specifically, they were disappointed, because he only was going to see them when there were problematic moments. Although they had some timetable problems with the University team, the relationships with the rest of the implicated were good.
In relation to the arising awareness campaign, they were disappointed because they had to dedicate a lot of time and effort and they did not find an open answer. Everybody in the school understood the programme, but they did not trust the programme as the counsellor children did it. Despite it, the aims of the programme were achieved, because as the programme were known they learn to work in group and to become a group.
They valued the meeting place as suitable because it was in a separated and noiseless place of the building, which had a big table and comfortable armchairs.
However, they did not think the same about the meeting and attention hours. Though, after discussing some other options, they came to the conclusion that the timetable was the best possible. In order not to lose every break time they made round turns.
Talking about if they thought they had helped their mates, they said yes, but not in the same way to all the people. But they also thought that they did what they could. The only thing that they hoped was to have learned for the next year. One of them said: "this year has been ok for being the first one and for to continue the next one". They thought that the programme users had felt better, relieved and listened. One of the users had said to the counsellor children that after they talked he had found friends. In the same way, they said that they had helped themselves, either as a group or individually. All of them said that they wanted to participate if a new peer support programme would develop.
They wrote in their notebooks things like:
SARA (15 years old): "I was talking with a girl becuase everyone say bad things about her. At the end, she said that she would come againg to talk with me. I think she was better after stayed with me".
JAVI (13 years old): "A boy came to talk with me and we were talking about what happened him. He said to me that everybody push him and said bad things to him. He only was two friends. Finally, I think he was better".
VERONICA (15 years old): "I have seen a girl weeping in the corridor, and without think about it, I went to talk with her and I got relax her. I think that if they do not come to us, we would go to them".
The teachers valued the programme in a different way depending on the school. In the primary school, they said that everything was all right, but they though that this year was the beginning, a rehearsal for the next year. During the evaluation session, we planned the steps to follow the next year to take advantage of the work done. On the other hand, in the Secondary school, the evaluations were short term. They though that they had done something for their pupils and that it has been ok. And the plans for the following year were only in mind of a minority of them (we have to have in mind that there are a lot of teachers without a definitive school).
CONCLUSIONS
After the description of the development of the programme and its results we can observe that the answer to our question about the possibility of setting up a peer support programme in some spanish school is affirmative.
It is true that it has been develop during a sort term, but it has been enough to know that, although some changes from the original model propoused by Cowie and collaborators are necessaries, it is possible and succeeds. Because, we do not interpreted the changes like a failing, due to it are adaptations to the characteristics of our schools. One proof it that the perceptions that the counsellor children and teachers had, during its development, have been highly positive.
For example, one of the problems that we had found during the first week was that there were not users. The follow up sessions had to be destined to motivate them and to explain the difficulty of taking the decision to tell their problems.
This problem was made good by two processes. The first one, the counsellor children would walk around the playground with a card that identified them as one of them (they designed them). So, if somebody wanted to talk, they could find a supporter in this place. And the second one, the Secondary School counsellor or the primary school co-ordinator in its case, would tell the victim that they could ask for help to some mates.
In order to the differences between primary and secondary schools we have to concluded that for primary school children is more suitable a program of Befriends, because they are not prepared to affront these types of situations, although they are prepared to help other mates of different ways. On the other hand, we can say that for the secondary schools it is possible and effective. But, do we know which are the requirements for a peer support programme is able?
Another thing that we can discuss about is why is so difficult for the children go to talking about theirs problem. We can investigate about if it is for every kind of victim or only for who is being bullying through a social exclusion and for that, they do not trust in anybody. We also can discuss about the different ways that we can use to motivate to the children for talking about their problems and in the same ways, haw we can motive to the children for helping others.
We would like to finish pointing that our main aim was to try developing a peer support programme in spanish schools. And after do it, we conclude that it is possible and not only that, because we can get good results, although for that it is necessary dedicate a lot time.
REFERENCES
COWIE, H. and NAYLOR, P. (1999): Someone to turn to: How peer support challeges bullying in schools. London: The Prince¥s Trust.
COWIE, H. and SHARP, S. (1996): Peer Counselling in Schools: A time to Listen. London: David Fulton.
COWIE, H. and WALLACE, H. (1998): Peer Support: A Teachers Manual. London: The Prince¥s Trust.
FERN¡NDEZ, I. y otros (1998): Un dÌa m·s. Materiales did·cticos para la EducaciÛn en valores en la E.S.O. Madrid: Defensor del Menor de la Comunidad de Madrid.
ORTEGA, R. (1997): El proyecto Sevilla anti-violencia escolar. Un modelo de intervenciÛn preventiva contra los malos tratos entre iguales. En Revista de EducaciÛn, 313, pp. 143-161.
ORTEGA y colb. (1998): La Convivencia Escolar: QuÈ es y cÛmo abordarla. Sevilla: ConsejerÌa de EducaciÛn y Ciencia. Junta de AndalucÌa.
SHARP, S. And COWIE, H. (1998): Counselling and Supporting Children in Distress. London: Sage.
SMITH, P.K. and SHARP, S. (1994): School Bullying. Routlege. London.
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