Nearly one out of every four students report being bullied, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Thousands of elementary schools are trying to combat this by installing buddy benches on playgrounds.
Buddy benches are a place for students to sit when they are looking for a friend during recess. The goal is to promote friendship building, but these benches may single out children who are already feeling isolated.
This year Boston Public Schools installed a buddy bench at The Mary Lyon K-8 School in Brighton. The Mary Lyon School is what's called a "full-inclusion school," which integrates students with learning and emotional disabilities into mainstream classes.
First grade teacher Amanda Minerva led the initiative to place a buddy bench on the playground at the Mary Lyon School. She says the buddy bench gives students a space to show other peers they need support without having to talk or ask for help. By pushing the students to make friends without the assistance of a teacher, Minerva says the buddy bench has helped students develop leadership qualities. She says “[it] lets the kids do a little bit more on their own. It kind of pushes them to independence a little bit more instead of coming up to a teacher.”
Sophie, a second grader at the Mary Lyon School, says, “You sit on this bench when you have no one to play with, and when someone wants to play with you, they would come over and say, ‘Do you want to play?’” She continues, "Ms. Minerva picked the perfect time to put the buddy bench down, when the new kids were coming [at the start of the year]. Because they just started this year, they’re still trying to make friends.”
Minerva says when some students arrive at the bench, “they may not have the happiest expression on their face because they may not know if anyone is going to come over and sit there.” But over all she thinks the bench makes isolated students feel safer, “because they know they have a place to go. They don’t have to just stand along the fence or walk around. There’s a place for them just to sit and wait for a friend.”
But buddy benches can be a mixed bag.
Gabriela, a fourth grader, is new to the Mary Lyon School this year.
“At my old school, they never had a buddy bench… The first time I saw it I thought, 'this bench looks kinda weird,'” she says. But then she started using it. “It made me feel more calm and made me happy because I can make new friends on it.”
During one recess period, Gabriela sat with a WGBH News reporter at the buddy bench while other fourth graders ran around the playground in groups. No other students joined her. While these benches allow students to sit in a designated space to find friends, they could have the opposite effect, if those who sit at the bench are seen as unpopular.
Richard Weissbourd, faculty director of the department of human development and psychology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and co-director of the Making Caring Common Project, says he think it’s really brave for students to sit on the buddy bench.
“I wouldn’t just plop [a buddy bench] onto a playground and expect magic to happen,” says Weissbourd, “It takes some preparation.”
Weissbourd says interventions like the buddy bench shouldn’t be done casually and can be more meaningful if teachers encourage all types of students to use the bench. "I think it's also important," he says, "for the kids who are popular to recognize the strengths of the kids who are unpopular and to recognize that they have a role to play in building a caring and inclusive community."
He says teachers need to set “ground rules about not ostracizing or degrading kids who are on the buddy bench.” One method he suggests is having teachers assign two kids every day to go sit at the buddy bench and welcome anyone who wants to join them.
“The kids that are going to be bullied are going to be bullied,” Weissbourd says, “whether there is a buddy bench or not.” But if used effectively, Weissbourd says buddy benches can create a sense of connectedness for elementary school students which extends beyond social and emotional benefits. He says a sense of belonging is “important in academic engagement [and] school success.”
Although buddy benches can have problems, Weissbourd says “we shouldn’t throw them out, because I think they are right in concept.”
WGBH News' coverage of K-12 education is made possible with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
