Kim Mi-ja, 41, who helped her students combat bullying at Dongju Elementary School in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, by teaching them to say “stop” when in an undesirable situation, points on Dec. 30, 2011, to the classroom TV screen showing the camaraderie of her fifth-grade class. A list of classroom rules behind her includes the instructions “Don’t harass your friends” and “Help friends who are being harassed.” By Kim Seong-tae

In the midst of calls for school administrators, parents or the authorities to intervene to prevent school violence, one elementary school teacher has set a precedent by ridding her classroom of bullying in a single semester through a program that teaches students to stand up for themselves.

Kim Mi-ja, 41, a homeroom teacher for a fifth grade class at Dongju Elementary School in Cheongju, the capital of North Chungcheong, encouraged her students on the first day of school in March 2010 to promise “not to bully friends.”

Upon hearing the words, some of the students were befuddled, not completely grasping their teacher’s words.

“When you see your friends saying bad things about others, or someone pushing or hitting another person, or someone leaving others out, you have to shout, ‘Stop!’?” she told her students.

Kim was teaching her young students the methods of a bullying prevention program originally implemented in Norwegian elementary, middle and high schools, in which students are taught to say “stop” to those who are harassing them.

The program was part of a nationwide campaign against bullying launched by the country’s Ministry of Education in 1982 after three Norwegian teens committed suicide after being bullied at school.

Dr. Dan Olweus, a Sweden-born psychology professor in Norway and a pioneer in research on bullying intervention in schools since the 1970s, created the program after the suicides, and it was first implemented in junior high schools in Norway in 1983. The program, in various incarnations, has since then been replicated in other European schools as well in the United States and Canada and teaches bullies and potential bullies through consistent intervention that bullying is not acceptable.

Like other teachers, Kim, before learning about the “stop” program, thought violence in school was a headache and always looked forward to her vacations, when she wouldn’t have to be plagued by the students’ problems. Even if the students turned to her for guidance, all she could think to tell them was to apologize to each other.

Though Kim had spent almost 20 years teaching, whenever confronted with school violence, she faced a dead end. So she decided to make a change.

She met with 10 other similar-minded teachers in North Chungcheong in January 2010 to create a research team to rid schools of violence. The teachers sought examples from abroad and stumbled upon the Norwegian bullying prevention program.

For Kim’s students, the “stop” method was unfamiliar to them. Most students would pretend not to notice, even if they saw a large kid acting rough in school. But for the entire month of March, Kim taught her class to call out in a loud voice, “Stop!” when encountering an undesirable situation. The students also attended a class meeting in which they could discuss school violence among themselves.

In the beginning, their voices were barely above an ant’s whisper. Come April, the students’ voices grew louder as the lessons from the method began to take hold. By May, voices calling out “Stop!” could be heard four or five times a day from students in need of intervention. Whenever someone used the method, the students would immediately gather for a class meeting. The victim and the bully would reenact the situation in front of their classmates. Then, they would switch roles and reenact the situation one more time. Through this method, the students learned how to put themselves in each other’s shoes.

Consequently, the children’s views of each other also changed. One female student who had been an outcast since second grade and always ate lunch by herself began to make friends one by one. She even became more outgoing in school activities, and when there was an argument between two of her friends, she often volunteered to play the role of mediator.

By summer vacation, bullying and arguing pretty much had disappeared from the fifth-grade class. Amongst themselves, the students decided to practice the lessons of the program, to cooperate regardless of gender and to accept their own mistakes. In the process, they also built up their decision-making skills.

As the program took hold, the number of instances where the students had to say “stop” also decreased. The students had learned how to handle school violence on their own, and bullying groups disappeared.

With the success of the class, the bully prevention program spread to other classes at Dongju Elementary as well.

The principal of the school, Lee Kyu-hui, 61, said, “The children’s personalities have improved a lot, and in the new year, the number of classes enforcing the program will be able to be expanded.”

Even the students are fascinated by the “stop” program. Fifth-grader Kim Hye-su said proudly, “These days, the violence is so infrequent that class meetings are rare unless there is a really big issue.” She said that “other students are envious and amazed” at their accomplishments.

On a visit to the class late last month, the class motto, “For the sake of peace and friendship, our class cooperates,” was displayed prominently on the wall.

In explaining the motto, Kim said, “If you promote community spirit, the kids will gain the ability to solve the problem of school violence on their own.”


By Lee Han-gil [sarahkim@joongang.co.kr]




신비한 ‘멈춰 마법’ … 한 학기 만에 왕따도 싸움도 사라졌다

학교폭력 맞선 사람들 ② 2010년 3월 노르웨이식 멈춰 교육 도입한 청주 동주초 김미자 교사


2010년 3월 초 충북 청주시 동주초등학교 5학년 교실. “우리 다 같이 약속하자. 친구들을 서로 괴롭히지 않기로.”

　담임 김미자(41) 교사가 새 학년 첫날 아이들 앞에서 이렇게 말했다. 서른 명의 아이는 무슨 말인 줄 몰라 당황하는 표정이었다. “친구가 다른 친구에게 심한 욕을 하거나, 몸을 밀치고 때리거나 따돌리는 것을 보면 누구든 ‘멈춰’ 하고 외치는 거야, 알았지?”

　본지가 학교폭력 해법으로 제안한 노르웨이식 ‘멈춰’ 교육(본지 12월 27일자 6면)은 우리나라 학교에서도 실천에 옮겨지고 있었다. ‘멈춰’ 프로그램을 도입한 것은 아이들 스스로 학교폭력을 막게 하자는 김 교사의 열정이 계기가 됐다. 그도 여느 교사와 마찬가지로 ‘멈춰’ 교육을 알기 전까지는 학교폭력은 골칫거리였다. 아이들에게 시달리지 않아도 되는 방학을 항상 기다렸다. “솔직히 얘기하면 아이들에게 ‘빨리 서로 사과해’라는 말밖에 할 줄 몰랐어요.”

　20년 가까이 아이들을 가르쳤지만 학교폭력 앞에선 늘 벽에 부닥쳤다. 김 교사는 충북 지역의 뜻 맞는 교사 10여 명과 2010년 1월 ‘폭력 없는 학교 만들기 연구모임’을 만들었다. 교사들과 외국 사례를 공부하다 노르웨이에서 시행 중인 멈춰 교육을 알게 됐다.

　김 교사 반 아이들에게 ‘멈춰’는 생경했다. 덩치 큰 아이들의 거친 행동을 봐도 모른 척하거나 입 안에서만 ‘개미 소리’가 빙빙 돌았다. 김 교사는 3월 한 달 내내 큰소리로 멈춰를 외치도록 가르쳤다.

　4월이 되자 아이들 목소리가 커졌다. 5월 들어선 하루에도 네댓 번씩 “멈춰” 하는 아이들의 외침이 교실에 울려 퍼졌다. 외침이 나오면 아이들은 곧바로 학급총회를 열었다. 가해·피해 어린이들은 전체 급우 앞에서 상황을 재연했다. 그러고선 역할을 바꿔 한 번 더 재연했다. 아이들은 그렇게 ‘역지사지 (易地思之)’를 배웠다.

　 아이들이 서로를 바라보는 눈이 달라졌다. 2학년 이후 줄곧 왕따를 당해온 희영(가명·여)이에게도 하나 둘 친구가 생겼다. 그전까진 늘 혼자 밥을 먹던 아이였다. 그런 희영이가 이제는 동아리 회장이 됐다. 희영이는 아이들 사이에 다툼이 일어나면 다가가 ‘중재’ 역할을 자청했다. 여름방학이 다가올 무렵 교실에서 따돌림과 싸움이 사라졌다. 아이들은 ‘멈춰 제도를 잘 지키자’ ‘남녀 구분 없이 협력하자’ ‘자기 잘못을 흔쾌히 인정하자’ ‘수업시간에 다른 사람을 방해하지 말자’ 등의 규칙을 정하면서 자율성을 키워갔다. 자연스럽게 아이들이 ‘멈춰’를 외치는 일도 줄어들었다. 아이들 스스로 학교폭력에 대처하는 법에 배운 것이다. 이른바 ‘일진문화’도 자연스럽게 사라졌다.

　이런 기적을 경험한 동주초에선 멈춰 교육이 2011년 10여 개 학급으로 확대됐다. 이 학교 이규희(61) 교장은 “아이들의 인성이 많이 나아지고 있어 새해에는 시행 학급을 확대하겠다”고 말했다.

　아이들도 ‘멈춰 마법’을 신기해한다. 5학년 김혜수양은 “지금은 정말 큰일이 아니면 학급총회를 여는 일이 드물 정도로 폭력이 없어졌다”면서 “다른 반 친구들이 부러워하고 신기해한다”고 자랑했다. 12월 30일 본지가 찾아간 김 교사 교실에서 ‘평화와 우정을 위해 협력하는 우리 반’이라고 적힌 급훈이 눈에 띄었다. 김 교사는 “공동체의식을 길러주면 아이들 스스로 학교폭력 문제를 해결할 수 있는 능력을 갖게 된다”고 말했다.

이한길 기자