NAMA : FANTIANA AFRISA MURHAY
NPM : 18211674
KELAS : 4EA25
TULISAN
“STOP
BULLYING”
How does theatre help deliver the anti
bullying message in schools, and is it effective? Australia's largest
independent women’s website, talked to Brainstorm Productions co-founder Jenny
Johnson about bullying,
cyber bullying and how Brainstorm Productions uses theatre to bring about
effective change and
make a real difference in
kids lives. Below is a full transcript of this interview:
1.
What's
the best story you've heard about the difference your performances have made to
a child's life?
That’s a really hard question. We get to hear so many
great personal stories every day! Whether it’s how we helped one child protect
themselves from cyber bullying or empowered students as a group to say “No!” to
bullying. Conversely, if a bully learns to stop and think before doing or
saying something that could hurt someone else, we feel a huge sense of
achievement. Only this week, a student approached one of our actors.
This student had seen one of our performances the
previous year, and explained how the show had completely turned her life around.
The student was being dominated and harassed by a girl at her school and, after
seeing our play, she felt empowered and able to stand up for herself. She then
discovered that another girl in her class was feeling the very same way and,
now, they’ve become friends, no longer feeling isolated. It can be very lonely
for kids who are being bullied. So, positive friendships and having someone to
talk to is really important.
A few years ago we also had a very serious case, where a
year nine boy was being physically threatened, frightened and felt very unsafe.
He was too afraid to speak up and tell anyone, for fear of what the bullies
might do to him as retribution. He decided to approach one of our actors and
explain what had been happening. The actor took the time to listen without
judgement and encouraged the boy to seek help. The actor took some notes and
asked the boy if it was OK for her to speak to someone at the school.
The school acted swiftly and the case was referred onto
the school counsellor. We actively encourage our audiences to seek help by
telling a trusted adult, teacher, counsellor or doctor. Although this can be
very scary for kids, it can make all the difference.
But, if we had to choose just one of our all-time
favourite stories, it would be from an Aspergers Victoria event we
held in February, this year. Aspergers Syndrome can make kids very vulnerable
to bullying, because they struggle to understand gestures, body language and
are prone to missing important social cues. This causes frustration often acted
out as aggression. We performed our anti-bullying show “The
Protectors”, which is designed to give all kids powerful strategies to
protect themselves and others from bullying.
About a week after the show, we heard back from one of
the parents who told us they had watched their boy use his ‘Protect Powers’,
one of the strategies we teach, to help another child in the playground who was
being bullied. He knew exactly what to do and told them not to be mean. As
explained by the parent, “Which, for a six year old on the spectrum, is the
equivalent of making an opening speech in Parliament. It took guts. And,
boy, am I proud that my son could be the one to stand up for others. He showed
empathy, assertiveness, compassion and conflict resolution thanks to his Protect
Powers!” We all cried tears of joy!
For all of us at Brainstorm Productions, we never forget
how privileged we are to be making a real difference to children’s lives and
the lives of their parents.
2.
Is it
as effective for young children as older?
Yes! Definitely! Our approach is to develop programs
that are suitable for the different stages of a child’s development to ensure
we are delivering age-appropriate messages. Our plays are developed in
collaboration with teachers, counsellors and psychologists, and as the head
writer, my background includes teaching at all levels including Drama,
Communication, Education and Social Sciences at University.
However, every school is different and we enjoy spending
as much time as is necessary with each teacher, to make sure our program is
designed to suit their needs. We know that the needs and understanding of year
one kids can be very different to those in grade five and vastly different
again for high school students.
For the very young children, our programs incorporate
more ethical messages, including the importance of manners, self-respect,
respect for others, cooperation, honesty and positive behaviour. If these
values are instilled at a young age and reinforced by a positive environment,
they will stay with the child forever. Whereas, for the older students, we tend
to lean towards more cautionary tales involving stronger themes including binge
drinking, violence, cyber safety, their cyber footprint, digital reputation,
substance abuse and the legal ramifications of issues such as sexting. This is
all achieved in a non-confrontational format and, definitely, presented in a
way that is non-threatening.
We feel it’s important to make a special connection with
each audience and this can only be achieved by understanding each school’s
unique issues and any special challenges. We employ highly skilled actors,
professionally trained, to make each performance and group discussion
spontaneous and personal, which can make all the difference, especially for
special need groups. And, we can honestly say, that no two group discussions
are ever the same.
The reason for this is simple; we work with teachers to
give more focus or weight to particular issues that the school might be
tackling. The actors are highly skilled in reading the signs of interest. It
certainly helps make every day interesting!
On the whole, we feel the key to effectively reaching
kids of all ages is ‘teaching without preaching’. Storytelling, drama, comedy,
role playing and music have been used since the beginning of time to educate
and engage. It helps unite children in a shared experience and is a great
springboard for opening up discussion and assisting with social change; be it
bullying, dealing with peer pressure or the consequences of risky behaviour including
binge drinking and violence.
In this way, we give strong and emotional lessons to
kids, albeit sometimes subliminally, whilst entertaining them. We love seeing
the kids’ faces transformed, be it with a huge smile, a feeling of empathy for
the character or a nod of recognition. We have been doing this successfully for
a long time and something we have learnt is that the issues may change, but
children haven’t. It really is a win-win situation for everyone and we feel so
lucky that this is our job!
3.
Why is
performance such a good medium for getting these messages across?
There is a certain magic that only live theatre can
create which reaches out and grabs onto all kids; regardless of age, gender,
background and religion. Children also learn in different ways and educational
theatre can have a profound effect on some children when they see a familiar
scenario being played out with clear solutions and skills that they can
practice in their own lives.
Students come to the realisation that they are not alone
and their feelings are validated through the characters on stage. They see the
characters demonstrate perseverance and resilience and that gives hope to any
child who may be struggling with similar issues.
This is incredibly important when trying to tackle
bullying and cyber bullying, not only for the victims but, also, for the
bullies themselves. For children that are bullying, they can see and feel how
their negative behaviour is affecting their victim and we provide scenarios for
children to change these anti-social, destructive and unacceptable behaviours.
We also help kids understand how they can intervene safely to support children
who are being bullied and not be a bystander and, therefore, an enabler.
We don’t only provide schools with performance-based
education programs. We also give them and their teachers a comprehensive range
of resources, including curriculum-linked lesson plans, interactive whiteboard
activities and original songs from our shows. The success of our programs
hinges not only on presenting award-winning live theatre, but also, on
providing ongoing support and on the school’s reinforcement of the
anti-bullying message after we have gone. And, of course, theatre is a great
FUN way to learn too!
4.
How
has bullying changed since you set up the company?
The most obvious change has been the rapid rise in the
use of technology and social media by kids and young adults. The increase in
children having smart phones with cameras has made it possible for bullying to
be filmed, posted online and made public, almost instantaneously.
Children are also vulnerable to sexting, which can be
humiliating and disastrous. Bullies can now access their victims at all hours
of the day and night, anywhere, anytime, and cyber bullying is becoming more
inescapable for some kids. Bullies can use fake names and anonymous profiles on
the largely anonymous internet.
Cyber bullying can be even more devastating than actual
bullying because it can intrude into safe places like their home. Often, the
child being bullied is embarrassed and ashamed to reveal this to their parents.
There is no ‘off’ switch so the effects can be more pervasive. However, most
cases of cyber bullying start with a face-to-face misunderstanding or conflict,
so our programs aim to give children strategies to diffuse the situation when
it first occurs so it doesn’t spill over online.
Parents often tell us they feel they can’t control what
their children do because they’re not tech savvy enough and teachers are often
not present when it occurs. Historically, teachers would be on hand to defuse
situations in the classroom, hallway or playground, but now bullying is taking
place out of their reach. Teachers’ powers of control have been massively eroded
in the last few decades.
We strongly encourage parents to educate themselves on
what they can do to help their kids. There are some highly effective resources
readily available including the government initiative’s ‘Bullying. No Way’ and ‘CyberSmart’. We also
provide a range of anti-bullying
articles on our website that
are designed to provide helpful advice and resources to children, parents and
teachers.
5.
What
impact has the internet had on how kids feel about themselves and others?
From what we observe from the children we meet and
talking to teachers, the biggest impacts have been on body image, equally for
girls and boys. Kids are consuming and idolising flawless images online not
realising how these images are digitally manipulated into the ‘ideal’.
Children are vulnerable to measuring themselves and
others by their social media ‘likes’, which is causing self-esteem and
depression issues. The definition of “friend” is being seriously challenged by
social media, so we try to educate our audiences on the importance of having
regular and meaningful offline conversations.
Last year, we announced an important partnership with
the not-for-profit organisation R U OK?to provide advice and tips to
students on how to ask someone if they’re okay and to regularly check-in with
their mates. With more and more children using smart phones and the web for
communication, sadly, the skills required to have meaningful conversations can
be almost unknown for some kids. As adults, we know the art of conversation
takes practice, but, for kids overusing technology, initiating and
participating in an important conversation can be a real struggle. Luckily, it
is a skill set that can be learnt and practiced.
Like the R U OK? organisation and most people, we are
not equipped to offer professional care to anyone suffering depression, but the
good news is there are a range of expert services available including Lifeline, Kids Helpline, Reachout, Headspace and BeyondBlue.
6.
What's
the worst incidence of bullying your company has come up against?
We perform to over 350,000 students every year and we’ve
been doing this for over 30 years, so we’ve come into contact with some very
sad and tragic stories of children being bullied and their outcomes.
Whilst bullying has always been an issue, in the past it
was not as widely and as openly discussed and a lot of children suffered in
silence. Today, we have a much better understanding of the devastating
long-term effects and there is a much wider acceptance that prevention programs
are necessary for the wellbeing of young people.
As awareness of the issue has grown, so has the level of
support provided to schools and kids to help prevent bullying and to provide
assistance for the children who have been targeted by bullies. Perhaps, most
significantly, legislation was passed this month which provides the new
Children’s e-Safety Commissioner with the legal right to demand social media
sites take down offensive material, with fines of up to $17,000 a day for
failing to comply.
We sincerely hope this ground-swell of action continues
and further safeguards are established. As the technologies evolve, so must the
laws to protect children online.
7.
How do
you devise the show? Do children themselves have input?
All our bullying, cyber bullying and wellbeing programs
evolve from close collaboration with teachers, schools, government departments,
community organisations and mental health agencies; and all programs are
curriculum-based. But, as long time education theatre professionals (over 32
years!!!), and teachers ourselves, our biggest creative influence is most
definitely the children.
Our starting point for each new show involves using our
own focus group research with teachers, talking with child psychologists,
attending conferences as well as sourcing industry studies and reports. But,
the most significant results come from our student feedback forms. These
provide us with powerful insights into how our shows made the students feel, on
a deeper, emotional level.
After all, this is what will linger long after the show
is over and the actors have left the school. By seeking to understand what
aspects of our shows are making the most impact, we’re provided with clear
guidelines on what content is required for our programs. All our shows have
some kind of connection to the most important issues facing our kids today, be
it bullying, cyber bullying, anxiety and depression, body image and
acceptance.
While we are dealing with serious problems, we are
committed to creating programs that are safe, supportive and non-judgmental and
to provide children with positive and useful tools that they can use in their
everyday lives. We don’t include extreme stories, dramatic tragedies or
inappropriate settings. Our aim is to tell stories about the challenges kids
face, but deliver them in an extraordinary and powerful way. We deliver
results-based programs and, from the feedback we get, we know we are making a
real impact on the lives of children, teachers and parents.
