ENABLE Professional and Community Collaboration

Professional and Community Collaboration: ENABLE The stakeholder group I would love to initiate professional collaboration and engagement is called ENABLE (European Network against Bullying in Learning and Leisure Environments) (School Education Gateway, 2016). This is a European stakeholder group with roots in the United Kingdom, Romania, Greece, Denmark, Belgium and Croatia. The ENABLE project was designed with the objective of assisting in SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) skills development (School Education Gateway, 2016). The project targets children aged between eleven and fourteen years of age.

This stakeholder project also helps promote concerted efforts against bullying. The goal is to alleviate cases of bullying in school and other social environments. The SEL programs are designed to improve the academic, emotional and social skills of students. This may include enhancing learners’ attitudes and social behaviors towards themselves and towards others. It also helps to alleviate instances of students becoming distressed emotionally (School Education Gateway, 2016).

Support systems designed for peers assist in the reduction of the negative consequences of bullying for the victims and also creates a favorable environment for victims to report cases of bullying. The ENABLE project is tailored to follow a wholesome school approach including the parents, staff, young people and the entire community. The ENABLE program departs from the typical and routine two-dimensional perspective where the problem of bullying is viewed under the context of the bully and the victim.

Instead, the ENABLE stakeholder group examines the group and social dynamics in leisure and school environments to solve various factors likely to lead into bullying incidents. The ENABLE stakeholder group has trained several ambassadors from each of the participating countries. The ambassadors must be available for the purpose of providing guidance and information to any organization or school that is interested in implementing and getting involved in the program.

Rationale for the choice of the ENABLE professional stakeholder group Bullying has been defined by the education department and the CDC as an undesirable aggressive behavior emanating from perceived or observed power imbalance, and the repetition of this behavior or high chances the behavior being repeated (stopbullying.gov, n.d). Bullying, according to stopbullying.gov (n.d) can be in different types and modes.

Direct and indirect modes of bullying can occur when the target is present or when the target is indirectly communicated to through instances such as spreading a rumor. There are four types of bullying which includes relational, property damage, verbal, and physical bullying. Bullying can occur in any context, location or place. This is the understanding that the ENABLE stakeholder group had when establishing the strategic efforts against bullying in school and social environments. With the advent of modern technology social media bullying has continued to grow by the day.

Relational and verbal aggression on social platforms such as sharing rumors on electronic media and harassing or threatening others through electronic communication has become quite common. According to stopbullying.gov (n.d) 25% to 33% of students have indicated that they were bullied while at school. Most cases of bullying occur with students at middle school. Social and verbal bullying is most common. More awareness has been built concerning bullying.

The psychological impact and consequences of bullying on a child’s academic, social, and emotional wellbeing is detrimental enough for the learning institutions to wish away the problem. The success of ENABLE professional stakeholder group is an inspiration that would help more learning institutions globally to tackle the challenge of bullying. The collaborative experience with ENABLE stakeholder group has been insightful and educational with regard to strategic approach towards solving.