Background to the Research

• Bullying, especially in school, is a major concern for many young people in Britain and NI. There is a growing body of research that examines the extent and nature of bullying among school pupils in NI as well as evidence on the help available to young people. The inclusion of the topic of bullying in YLT surveys conducted in 1998, 2004 and 2005 has contributed considerably to knowledge of this topic..
  

Research Approach

• This chapter used the 2005 and 2006 YLT surveys, data from a very recent major research study by DENI and data from a study into bullying in primary, post-primary and special schools in NI (the NCB study) to examine what is known about how schools respond to incidents of bullying and the extent of pupil involvement in policy development.
  

Main Findings

• 30% of 2005 YLT respondents (aged 16 years) and 29% of Year 9 DENI respondents (most comparable in age) said that they had been bullied in the past two months. However, only 7% and 21% of respondents respectively acknowledged that they had taken part in bullying.
• As in other studies, name-calling was the most common type of bullying experienced by boys and girls in the DENI survey. Discussion with pupils in the NCB study suggested that this can be subtle and pupils may find it difficult to differentiate between what is acceptable and what is not.
• Both the YLT surveys and the DENI survey point to a relationship between general attitudes to minority groups and the propensity to bully people from those groups. Most YLT respondents appeared very neutral about their feelings towards these groups, although 13% of those in the 2005 survey who felt unfavourable or very unfavourable towards people from minority ethnic groups did admit to bullying others, compared to only 4% of those who felt favourably or very favourably towards such groups.
• 88% of pupils in the DENI survey thought that it was always wrong to bully someone because of their race or skin colour, compared to 94% and 79% who felt this way in relation to someone's disability or religion.
• Recent NI research showed a strong pro-victim attitude among pupils, with 64% saying they felt sorry for someone who is being bullied. However, only 37% said they would try to help the pupil. Both aspects of this pro-victim attitude were stronger among girls than boys.
• The NCB study indicated that initiatives to address bullying will only be effective if they are delivered within a broad approach to tackling bullying.
• 54% of YLT respondents (2005) and 67% of post-primary pupils in the NCB study thought that their school provides real help to people who are being bullied. However, pupils who reported that there was 'a lot' of bullying in their school were significantly less likely to think this than those who thought that pupils in their schools were bullied 'a little' or 'not at all'. Pupils were also more likely to report lower levels of bullying in schools where: there is a policy for bullying; pupils were involved in developing this; the school has dedicated staff to deal with bullying; and students would talk to that member of staff.
• As is now common, the majority of schools in the NCB and YLT studies had a dedicated member of staff to deal with bullying. However, 14% of pupils of all ages did not know if there was such a member of staff. Furthermore, few pupils (approximately 15%) said they would talk to this person. Interactive workshops undertaken during the NCB study showed that, for many young people, the idea of talking to a teacher about bullying was simply not a good idea as this could make the situation worse.
• Considerable variation (4 - 23%) in responses from pupils from different schools on whether they would talk to this member of staff seemed to reflect comments about the quality of the relationship between staff and pupils and the overall school ethos. Students also appeared aware of the gap between what a school may say about bullying and what actually happens on the ground.
• Recent research found that over 90% of responding institutions had no specific anti-bullying policy. All 14 schools in the NCB study did have a policy on bullying, but this was also often incorporated into an overall discipline policy. Whilst aware of the bullying policy, the majority of pupils did not know what this said, highlighting the need for greater pupil involvement.
• Only 28% of post-primary pupils in the NCB study had been involved in drawing up the school policy on bullying. Also, only 15% of primary pupils and 32% of post-primary pupils said they were ever asked their views on how something was done in their schools, and only 18% of primary pupils and 11% of post-primary pupils said they had ever helped to change the way things are done in their school.
• School councils, an important mechanism for increasing pupil involvement in decision making, existed in 2 of the 5 primary schools and 3 of the 4 post-primary schools in the NCB study, although the majority of pupils in 2 of the schools did not know this. The NCB study provided examples of ineffective and non-engaging school councils, as well as highly effective examples whose activity was part of a wider participatory culture in which pupils were very aware of the various available initiatives.
• The range of perspectives gathered from the NCB study suggested that pupils in schools with an active and working school council had a greater sense of ownership of their school, which in turn helps to build the positive ethos that is key to establishing a culture that will not tolerate bullying. Although many staff did reveal a growing awareness of the benefits of pupil involvement, the evidence of pupil involvement in the development of policies on bullying suggested that this is not happening; senior staff acknowledged that pupils were only involved indirectly, if at all.
• Reasons given for the practice of non-involvement of pupils in policy-making were grouped under: a lack of training or confidence; a lack of time or organisational space; no sense of shared agenda and hence suspicion of the motivation of pupils; and a lack of confidence in the competence of pupils to engage productively with staff in policy making.
  

Conclusions

• Rather than any strong opposition to involving pupils, particularly in relation to the issue of bullying, there may simply be a culture of assuming that staff knows best. Despite the statutory requirement to involve pupils, the strong messages in the NI Commissioner for Children and Young People Guidance available and the growing evidence of the value of working together, it appears that there is simply not as yet a culture of pupil participation in schools in NI.
• Involving pupils in the development of school policies is concluded to be not only a requirement on schools and the right of pupils, but a core ingredient in the development of effective solutions to reduce levels of bullying in schools. In order to tackle bullying, schools need to start to build a culture of participation within their school and think how best to give pupils a better sense that they are part of the school.