The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence (NDA) takes place on Friday 18 March 2022. The theme for 2022 is Kindness Culture, ‘by building Kindness Culture together, we can promote inclusion, respect and community belonging for all students in schools across Australia.’ Kindness is a key element in bullying prevention and promotes inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging. NDA is an opportunity to teach kindness and demonstrate kind behaviour, both of which play important roles in bullying prevention.
Over 65% of Australian schools and nearly 2.4 million students nationwide took part in The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence 2021. This is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative which this year celebrates 12 years of connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying. The NDA provides an opportunity to bring school communities together to send a powerful message that bullying and violence are never okay, as well as to promote a schools bullying prevention strategy.
All schools are required to register their involvement at Bullying No Way! Classroom resources are available for all ages, from early education to year 12. The resources aim to support school communities with evidence-informed resources and activities for a proactive approach to bullying education and prevention. They include various lesson plans, social media content, classroom activities, and virtual events support.
This year sees the introduction of the new animation series, Be Kind Online, which encourages young people to block content, report it, and support each other if they see or experience cyberbullying. The series aims to communicate to young people that it is important they know that they are not alone, and help is always available.
The initiative encourages schools to share these videos with students and start a conversation to help identify, understand and respond to cyberbullying.
