Tackling bullying behaviour
Summary
Over the past few decades there has been an increasing
awareness of bullying and the effect it has on the educational and social
achievements of children and young people.
The House of Commons
Education and Skills Committee Report,
'Bullying'
(HC 85) examines:
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The Report finds that defining what bullying is and identifying
instances of bullying is the first potential barrier to successfully tackling
the problem. Teachers and staff, pupils and parents should all be aware of
their school's definition of bullying and how this affects their own behaviour
with the attitude and engagement of head teachers vital to tackling bullying.
The focus of anti-bullying guidance should be tackling bullying behaviour and
making it clear that such behaviour is not acceptable, rather than attempting
to change the behaviour of the victim. The Department for Education and Skills
should issue new guidance to local authorities and schools on when the use of
exclusion is appropriate.
Another barrier to more effective
anti-bullying work is the lack of accurate reliable data on bullying. The
Government should commission a long-term study of a number of schools, looking
at both general trends in bullying and also the effectiveness of different
approaches in different circumstances. The Report also recommends that the
Government needs to foster a culture where schools are encouraged to be open
about incidents of bullying, have effective ways of dealing with bullying when
it occurs, and provide support for the victims of bullying rather than fearing
reporting incidents of bullying will damage their reputation.
See more
on anti-bullying strategy on the
Department for Education and Skills website.
Find out more about the
Commons
Education and Skills Committee.
