Bystanders and Upstanders
Understand the bystander role — that when someone witnesses unkind or unfair behaviour, they have a choice: they can be a passive bystander (doing nothing), join in, or be an upstander (speaking up or getting help) — and develop the confidence to be an upstander
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain the difference between a bystander and an upstander
- Describe at least two safe actions an upstander can take
- Give an example of a time they or someone they know stood up for someone else
1 · Read
When you see someone being treated in an unkind or unfair way, you always have a choice. You can join in. You can watch and say nothing, which makes you a bystander. Staying silent can let the unkindness carry on. Or you can help, which makes you an upstander. Telling a trusted adult helps, because an adult can step in and stop what is unsafe.
At lunch, kids start laughing at what Priya is eating. Deng could laugh too. He could stay quiet. Instead, he says, 'That is not cool,' and asks Priya to sit with him. Deng chose to be an upstander.
You do not need to be the boldest to be an upstander. Safe upstander actions include saying a calm line like 'That is not okay,' walking away together with the person being targeted, or telling a teacher or another trusted adult what you saw.
You do not have to fix everything by yourself. Getting an adult's help is still being an upstander. It is one of the safest moves you can make.
When something unkind happens, you can join in, stay silent as a bystander, or step up as an upstander, and even a small safe action counts.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.