Background to the Research

• Bullying in schools is an issue that has prompted Government bodies, local education authorities and schools to make a structured effort to ensure that pupils' educational experiences are free from intimidation, fear and unhappiness.
• Recently, evidence-based strategies have been developed, which aim to increase awareness and understanding about bullying issues and promote anti-bullying policies.
• This research aimed to establish evidence about bullying in schools in NI which can be used to inform policy. It's objectives were to measure the nature and extent of bullying in primary and post-primary schools, according to the pupils, and to explore the attitudes of the schools' staff around a number of issues related to bullying.
  

Research Approach

• 120 schools were selected to take part, taking into account the Free School Meal band, rural/urban location and school management type to ensure representativeness.
• One class of pupils from Year 6 in 60 primary schools and one class of pupils from Year 9 in 60 post-primary schools participated. They were given the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire to complete. This took place during May and June 2000.
• A questionnaire was devised and given to teaching and non-teaching school staff in all participating schools.
  

Main Findings

Primary Schools - Victims

• 40% of children reported being bullied in the last couple of months.
• Name calling was the most common form of bullying.
• Bullying happened most often in the playground.
• Girls were usually bullied by a female classmate.
• Boys were usually bullied by an older boy.
• Support for victims would be first sought from parents or friends.
• Pupils with a larger circle of friends (four or more) were less likely to be bullied.

Primary Schools - Pupils as Bullies

• 25% of children reported that they had bullied another pupil.
• Name calling was the most usual form.
• Boys were more likely to be involved than girls.
• A teacher was more likely to have discussed a pupil's bullying behaviour with them than someone at home.

Primary Schools - Staff Attitudes and Behaviours

• Being threatened was the form of behaviour most frequently perceived to constitute bullying.
• Physical bullying, name calling, spreading rumours and being excluded were perceived as being more hurtful to girls than boys.
• 74% of staff reported that their school had an anti-bullying policy (often embedded within other policies).
• Staff reported feeling more confident about dealing with bullying than preventing it.
• 75% of staff requested further training, mostly for counselling skills.

Post-Primary Schools - Victims

• 30% of children reported being bullied in the last couple of months.
• Name calling was the most common form of bullying.
• Bullying happened most often in the playground.
• Girls were usually bullied by a female classmate.
• Boys were usually bullied by boys.
• Boys were more likely to have been bullied than girls.
• Girls held a more pro-victim and pro-teacher attitude than boys.

Post-Primary Schools - Pupils as Bullies

• 28% reported that they had bullied another pupil.
• Name calling was the most usual way.
• Boys were more likely to have been involved than girls.
• Female bullies were more likely than their male counterparts to use methods of exclusion.
• About half of bullies had not discussed their bullying behaviour with a teacher and most of the bullies had not discussed their bullying behaviour with anyone at home.

Post-Primary Schools - Staff Attitudes and Perceptions

• Being threatened was the form of behaviour most frequently perceived to constitute bullying.
• Blackmail, being threatened and being forced to hand over money were perceived as the forms of bullying most hurtful to boys.
• 90% of staff reported that their school had an anti-bullying policy (often embedded with other policies).
• Staff reported feeling more confident about dealing with bullying than preventing it.
• 77% of staff requested further training, mostly for counselling and behaviour management skills.

Recommendations

Bullying Policy

• Every school should have an explicit anti-bullying policy, available and comprehensible to parents and pupils. Within it, social exclusion, rejection, or persistent, directed spreading of rumours should be defined as bullying.
• Consideration should be given to the development of peer support systems within schools, where appropriate.

Role of Senior Management

• Managers should monitor concerns from parents regarding bullying and there should be procedures for taking action in relation to this information.
• Managers and teachers should monitor incidences of ethnic and religion-based bullying, and this area should be explicit within policies.
• Managers and teachers should monitor incidences of bullying by means of name calling with a sexual connotation or homophobic intent, and this should be included in school policy.
• The playground should be monitored for signs of bullying.
• The school canteen, gyms, toilets and changing rooms should also be considered as likely locations for bullying and monitored as such.
• There should be early identification of pupils in primary schools who are being consistently bullied, so that such children will not be bullied for the duration of their time at school.

In Service Management

• Playground supervisors, bus staff and other non-teaching staff should be made aware of indicators of bullying and should have clear reporting procedures.
• Teachers should be alerted to the possibilities of indirect bullying in the classroom.
• The problems of being bullied in the absence of teachers in the classroom or corridors in primary school should be recognised.
• Staff development activities should foster an anti-bullying ethos.
• Teachers should be given staff development in counselling and classroom management strategies designed to counter bullying.
• Staff development should be offered to non-teaching staff to ensure that they are aware of anti-bullying procedures and have the necessary behaviour management skills.

Organisation of Teaching and Learning

• Pupils should be educated regarding their observation of incidents of bullying and their responsibilities in this respect.
• Curriculum development processes should look at ways that teachers can help to counter bullying through promoting personal growth for pupils.
• Opportunities for role play and group work should be sought, to increase the awareness of pupils in relation to bullying and to present strategies for supporting victims.
• The nature of playground play and pupils interaction should be reviewed, in order to ensure that opportunities for pupils to gain social and interpersonal skills are maximised, and contexts that enable bullying to take place are minimised.

Initial Teacher Training

• There should be consideration of the need to address the curriculum for initial teacher training, in respect of educating trainee teachers to recognise and manage bullying effectively.

Please see Briefing on the DENI website