If a headteacher says that there's no bullying among their students, they're probably in denial. Almost half (46%) of English children and young people say they have been bullied at school at some point in their lives, according to a 2010 report by the National Foundation for Education Research. But how are schools tackling the problem?
At the moment, all state-funded schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are required by law to have an anti-bullying or behaviour policy – Scottish schools are also encouraged to develop an anti-bullying policy. This should contain a definition of bullying, procedures to follow if problems arise and details of appropriate sanctions.
Under the previous Labour government, schools were offered detailed advice about confronting bullying. But the coalition is far less directive, says Fran Thompson, who has researched the use and effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies in....
"Current guidance says what a successful school should be like – for example, they should have an anti-bullying policy – but it does not prescribe a particular approach. The government has also introduced a new aspect of the Ofsted framework which means schools are now inspected to see what they are doing about bullying."
When Thompson researched the types of anti-bullying techniques schools were adopting, she found a whole range of preventative, peer-support and reactive strategies in use across the country. This includes proactive techniques such as circle time, where children sit together and take it in turns to participate in a discussion or activity, school councils and the training of lunchtime supervisors, as well as intervention strategies such as restorative justice and assertive discipline.
Such variation is a good thing, Thompson argues. "There isn't one type of good practice. Not all schools are the same, and nor are all students, so there's never going to be just one answer to tackling bullying."
England's non-prescriptive approach contrasts with the centralised strategies seen in countries such as Finland. Here, backed by the government, theUniversity of Turku developed an anti-bullying strategy known as KiVa, which is now implemented in 95% of state-funded schools.
Such a "top-down approach" may not suit English schools, says Anthony Smythe, managing director of BeatBullying. But he adds that there is still a need for strong leadership from government – especially now that teachers are also dealing with cyberbullying.
"What we need in the anti-bullying sector is a strategy that brings all parties together to work on behalf of the child. Cyberbullying has changed the landscape. Before, bullying was something that you could address at school level, now it requires different organisations – local authorities, the police and social services – to collaborate."
"Lots of countries are reviewing their approach on this," adds Smythe. "Oklahoma, for example, has just brought out new laws to address bullying and there's quite an emphasis on what schools do and linking that information to the police. Bullying has to be everyone's responsibility in the community."
BeatBullying has backed the Ayden's Law campaign, which wants to make it a statutory requirement for the government to publish an annual anti-bullying strategy. It also calls for bullying to be made a summary charge offence. "As bullying is not a crime, it's not stopped by the police, so it has to escalate into something more serious first. We're saying – why produce a system that encourages that escalation?"
"There are a lot of smart sanctions out there for dealing with youth crime, having a new summary charge would allow us to use those out-of-court disposals to address the behaviour."
"We managed to persuade the home office to recognise bullying as a form of anti-social behaviour, so, for the first time, the new anti-social behaviour injunctions, which are going through parliament now, will be available to the police and local authorities address bullying."
How authorities strike the balance between sanctions and intervention is a question that has divided academics and teachers the world over.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance warned against the proposal to include bullying within the Anti-Soc..., arguing that it would lead to more children being unnecessarily drawn into the criminal justice system. And across America, where 18 US states now allow some form of legal redress for the victims of bullying, the criminalisation of bullying has provoked controversy. "There's no federal law on bullying, but in some states it is becoming a criminalised offence," says Susan Swearer, professor of the school of psychology at the University of Nebraska, who adds that the trend is problematic.
"It's really important that states focus on intervention rather than criminalisation and punishment. Ohio is a good example of a state that is doing so. It's using techniques such as individual interventions like therapy, while a number of other schools focus on restorative justice programmes, where a student atones for his or her bullying behaviour. These programmes focus on helping students understand that what they did is harmful but that they can make restitution."
America is leading in examining the link between mental health and bullying, with the American Psychological Association researching both the wellbeing of the individual who is bullying, as well as the person targeted.
Understanding the motivations of individuals who bully is vital, adds Damanjit Sandhu, assistant professor of psychology at Punjabi University. Bullying, she warns, is a major problem across both public and private schools in India. Sandhu points to the Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education as an example of how holistic care can prevent such behaviour. "The school is based on the philosophy of Aurobindo, the belief that you cannot teach a child anything, but that they have to learn. Teachers see themselves as instruments helping their child to learn, there's no vertical kind of control and the teachers are not authoritarian."
The interest the school takes in the emotional and psychological growth of the child means there are far fewer instances of bullying compared with elsewhere in the country. "There is less distance between teachers and students, so they communicate more and students are happier."
"Bullying is rooted in some frustrated need, whether it's a need to be noticed or to vent your frustration," says Sandhu. "We have to see where that is coming from."
