A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Current Anti-bullying Policies in Ontario

This study asks how school bullying is conceptualized in current anti-bullying policies in Ontario. Policy documents PPM 144 (Bullying Prevention and Intervention, 2012), PPM 145 (Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour, 2012), and the Model Plan (the Working Draft: Safe and Accepting Schools Model Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, 2013) are examined. Drawing upon concepts from Foucault, this study expresses how disciplinary techniques operate in anti-bullying policies and how they contribute to the formation of dominant discourses on bullying. It argues that school bullying is represented as an individual problem in these policies. Accordingly, bullying prevention and intervention mainly relies on individualized approaches, leaving power relations and social oppression in the larger society unproblematized. This study raises the possibility that educators might help create spaces for students to “be governed less” (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005, p. 141) by these discourses.