30 teachers and school managers from 30 communities in Moldova participated, on 29th and 30th of October, in a training to strengthen their knowledge on preventing and combating bullying in school and community, organized by Terre des hommes Moldova. The teachers, participant in the summer training "Bullying in schools", have already started activities with children, parents and teachers in schools, toy libraries and ALEG clubs, and the follow-up workshop was an opportunity for them to share the experience they had so far.
For two days, under the guidance of the psychologists Tatiana Turchina and Daniela Terzi - Barbarosie, the participants in the workshop talked about their successes, discussed the difficulties they are facing, offered each other feedback and found solutions together.
Silvia Folea, a support teacher in a middle school in the north of the country, says that, together with the children members of the ALEG club, they have already managed to do more activities in school, such as: information sessions for children and parents, peer to peer trainings, psycho-social activities, and as a result of this workshop, the good practices of colleagues from other institutions will be especially helpful.
In addition to strengthening summer knowledge, teachers have benefited from new information and working techniques, such as the training on power relationships and how they can lead to bullying in schools. According to the participants, such training activities should be organized as often as possible in order to achieve a change in attitudes.
One of the things that teachers expected the most was the handout on bullying prevention and intervention by Tatiana Turchina and Daniela Terzi - Barbarosie. The two psychologists have developed an antibullying program, with extensive theoretical information and practical activities, to help teachers better understand the phenomenon of bullying, how to prevent it and what are the intervention methods. The authors tested the program during the summer trainings and adapted it according to the feedback provided by the participants, and now it is to serve as a guideline to teachers in further activities.
"We have been looking forward to the handbook, which will be a stepping stone to our activities and offer us helpful strategies to prevent violence and bullying phenomenon," says Petru Berdos, the manager of a middle school in the south of the country. "We are eager to equip schools with these materials, to use them in working with children, parents, teachers and even school managers. On November 20, for example, on the International Child Rights Day, I plan to organize a workshop based on this handbook with school managers from our district”, the principal tells about his plans.
The follow-up workshop on combating bullying was organized and coordinated by Terre des hommes Moldova Foundation with the support of ChildHub - Child Protection Hub, and with financial support of Oak Foundation and UNICEF Moldova.