Kennedy welcomes school anti-bullying guide

Minister of State with responsibility for Education, Jane Kennedy, has welcomed the publication of a good practice guide for post-primary schools on tackling bullying.

The guide 'Focus on Bullying' was published today by Save The Children, who produced the guide with support from the Department of Education and a number of statutory and voluntary agencies.

The guide gives examples of good practice, sample questionnaires and case studies to help teachers prevent and combat bullying.

The Minister said: “All children have a right to be educated in a happy, safe and secure environment and I am delighted that my Department was able to support this guide which will be used to tackle bullying in post-primary schools.”

Referring to research into the nature and extent of bullying in schools published recently, Ms Kennedy said: “The research, commissioned by my Department and carried out by the University of Ulster, shows that bullying occurs in many of our schools and a significant number of children admit to bullying other pupils.

“Clearly no school can afford to be complacent about the need to prevent and tackle bullying in all its forms. This guide will help post-primary schools to develop an anti-bullying culture and my Department is committed to introducing a mandatory requirement for every grant-aided school to have a written anti-bullying policy and to implement it.”

Marion Matchett, Chief Inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate, represented the Department of Education at the launch of the guide at the Ramada Hotel, Belfast. She reported that the Department of Education will be exploring with Save The Children and other education partners how and when a similar publication for primary schools might be produced.

The guide will be distributed by the Department of Education to all post-primary schools immediately.

Currently guidance on bullying is included in good practice guidelines issued to all grant-aided schools by the Department called 'Promoting Positive Behaviour'.

Recent research carried out by the University of Ulster found that 40% of primary pupils and 30% of post-primary pupils stated that they had been bullied.

The study revealed that one-in-four primary and almost one-in-three post-primary pupils said they had bullied another pupil. With name-calling the most common form of bullying in both primary and post-primary schools.

(SP)