‘Being Part and Parcel of the School’ 30/06/06 [NI]
Written by Dirk Schubotz and Ruth Sinclair
Introduction
Bullying in school, has been identified as a matter of concern to many young people living across the UK and in Northern Ireland. In recent years there has been a range of policy and practice developments related to bullying and bullying in schools, from central and local government, the voluntary sector and from schools and other agencies. The present report is concerned with the views and experiences of children and young people in Northern Ireland in relation to the development of bullying policies in schools.
Aims of the research project
The overall aim of the research was:
To determine the views and experiences of children and young people in relation to the development and review of bullying policies in schools in Northern Ireland.
More specifically the central aims of the study were to:
• Determine how children and young people have been involved in developing anti-bullying policies in school;
• Explore their views on how these policies work out in practice;
• Ascertain how specific issues such as race, homophobia, gender and disability are addressed in schools’ anti-bullying policies;
• Establish how bullying is monitored within schools;
• Explore pupils’ views on successful steps taken within schools to reduce bullying.
Methodology
A mixed-method approach was adopted to undertake the research. Namely, the following methods were used:
1. Review of relevant literature
2. Content analysis of school documents such as behavioural, pastoral care and anti-bullying policies;
3. Interviews with school staff involved in monitoring school-bullying policies;
4. Talkshops (participatory focus group discussions) with pupils;
5. One-to-one interviews with pupils;
6. Questionnaires administered to pupils.
A purposive quota sample of 14 schools (5 primary, 4 post-primary, 5 special) was recruited which, within the available budget and timeframe, represented the different sub-sectors of the diverse and segregated school population within Northern Ireland. The sample included schools of different sizes, rural as well as urban locations, single-sex as well as co-educationally, boarding as well as day schools. The target sample was chosen to include schools from all five Education and Library Boards. Within these given criteria, the selection of schools for the research project was random.
A group of ten post-primary students were identified and recruited to work on the project as peer researchers. Six of the ten Young Researchers came from postprimary schools that were part of the school sample. Two Young Researchers came from a special school included in the study. Two Young Researchers were recruited through the NICCY Youth Panel.
Findings
Developing school policies
All schools did have an anti-bullying policy either as a stand-alone document or incorporated into an overall set of pastoral care policies.
Schools used various definitions of bullying. Generally, a no-blame approach was favoured in dealing with incidences of bullying.
School policy-making did involve school staff and parents, but very few school policies directly referred to consulting pupils. However, senior staff believed generally that it was useful to consult with pupils and there was an increasing awareness that active steps should be undertaken to systematically involve pupils rather than an adhoc approach.
Incidences of bullying were recorded by all schools, albeit in different ways. Schools’ policies provided guidelines on the frequency of review, even if these were not always followed, but only one school recommended an annual review.
Raising awareness
The perceived extent of school bullying was similar in primary and post-primary schools, with around two thirds of pupils saying that students in their schools were bullied a little (49%) or a lot (18%).
The schools used poster campaigns, assemblies, circle time (primary and special schools), PSHE (post-primary schools) and induction weeks at the start of the school year to raise awareness with regard to school bullying. Some schools also used outside agencies to support them in their anti-bullying work.
Pupils had a good understanding of the seriousness of bullying, the mechanisms of reporting bullying and of the consequences that bullying may have to the victim. However, among post-primary students there was some reason for concern about their ability to differentiate between acceptable banter and unacceptable bullying.
Involving children in decision making in schools.
Only 15 percent of primary school pupils and under one third (32%) of post-primary pupils said that they had ever been asked their opinion on how something was donein their school. The differences between schools in the different sectors were significant.
Less than one in five (18%) primary school pupils and just over one in ten (11%) post-primary pupils said that they had helped to change something in their school. Again, the differences between schools in each sector were significant. Two out of five primary schools and three out of four post-primary schools had a formally established school council. However, the majority of pupils in two out of these five schools did not know about or thought that there was no school council, suggesting that the schools did not involve most pupils in any meaningful way. Data collected suggests that pupils in schools with an active and working school council had a greater sense of ownership of their school.
Teachers and the school principal were the first points of contact for pupils who were unhappy about something in their school, but pupils did use other avenues of support where schools promoted these.
Anti-bullying practices
Over three quarters of pupils in both primary (79%) and post-primary (77%) schools said that their school had dedicated staff to deal with bullying. However, primary school children were most likely to report school bullying first to their parents, and only 15 per cent of post-primary pupils said that most students would talk to this dedicated staff member if they were bullied (68% said it depended on the circumstances)
Two thirds (67%) of post-primary students felt that their school provided real help to students who were bullied.
Nine out of ten (93%) primary school pupils and eight out of ten (80%) post-primary pupils said that their schools had an official anti-bullying policy. Most (90%) primary pupils had discussed bullying in school. Only one third of post-primary school students said they were involved in drawing up their school’s anti-bullying policy.
Discussions with pupils revealed that the most effective way of dealing with bullying in school should involve a number of different mechanisms and should include outside agencies as well as school staff and pupils themselves. School bullying should be seen as a very specific issue that may occur in any school and needs to be dealt with beyond other existing networks of participation and support that may exist in each school.
Summary of key messages
Involvement of young people in the development of school anti-bullying policies.
All schools did have school bullying policies; some were specific anti-bullying policies, some as part of pastoral care policy. Few were reviewed regularly; hence policy-making was often seen as a reactive rather than a pro-active process. Commonly, school policies were discussed at staff training days, or around a time when school inspections took place.
Overall, the involvement of pupils in school-policy making was limited. Less than half of the schools visited operated school councils; some of these were seen by pupils as inactive and ineffective. More schools operated other means of participation, however, the selection of pupils involved was limited and almost always teacher-led.
Barriers to the active engagement of young people in bullying policies
The three most common reasons were:
• A perception of the limited ability of children and young people to inform policy making – through age, immaturity and doubts about intentions and motivations of pupils;
• The lack of training on how to involve pupils into policy making;
• Time constraints and organisational demands in school.
Many teachers had simply not thought about direct involvement of pupils into school policymaking – and pupils tended to accept this. While there was no open opposition to pupils’ involvement in policymaking, in most schools there was no culture of pupil participation.
Thus the main barrier to pupils’ involvement in school policies was simply that they were not asked to participate.
Schools which had adopted ways of involving pupils commented on the positive effect this had had on the school climate.
School anti-bullying policies work in practice
Every school in the research made it absolutely clear that bullying would not be tolerated. This was reiterated in every-day school life through posters, class discussions assemblies or anti-bullying pledges. However, this does not mean that bullying does not take place.
Pupils were generally aware of ways of reporting and dealing with bullying. But although the great majority of pupils said that their school had particular staff to deal with school bullying, only 15 per cent of post-primary pupils said they would unconditionally talk to this staff member - most thought ‘telling a teacher’ was not a helpful or effective option.
A good level of rapport between pupils and staff is very important. Also schools which offered a range of different age-appropriate means of dealing with bullying and revisited the subject of school bullying on a regular basis were best equipped to deal with incidences.
Young people’s views on engaging them in the development of schools bullying policies
Individual pupils differ substantially in the particular form of participation that they find most comfortable. Schools need to offer a variety of structured as well as informal ways of involving pupils in school policy making. Possible ways range from informal anonymous suggestion boxes to discussions and debates within the school curriculum, a formal school council and peer-mediation schemes, such as antibullying squads.
The absence of any culture of pupil participation limited the aspirations and expectations of many pupils. It is clear that the development of good relationships between pupils and school staff is key for the development of effective ways of participation and ultimately a sense of ownership of the school among pupils.
Issues such as homophobia, race, gender and disability in schools bullying policies
In general, bullying incidences were treated the same, regardless of their nature. Special schools were sensitive towards individual needs of pupils with disabilities and challenging behaviour linked to specific disabilities. None of the bullying policies of mainstream schools singled out bullying connected homophobia, xenophobia or gender. Most participants in the research agreed that students were bullied because they were different from the majority or the socially accepted ‘norm’ – in whatever way this may be. Homophobic bullying did not arise as an issue throughout the research project, perhaps because even discussion of homosexuality itself is regarded as threatening.
Monitoring bullying in school
Schools had different methods of monitoring bullying incidences. Overall responsibility to oversee the school bullying policy rested with a senior member of staff, with a remit to record bullying incidences and to involve all parties, including parents in resolving the issue.
In Conclusion
This research shows that the individual schools vary enormously in the way in which they develop and implement anti-bullying policies. While there were some examples of really excellent practice in devising and applying anti-bullying policies and in involving pupils in this, the general picture is of very limited participation of pupils.
This seems to derive from the absence of any culture of pupil participation in policy making within schools. The interviews and discussions with pupils suggest that most have no sense of involvement in the way in which their school is run.
• You can view the research report here
• You can view the Commissioner’s speech here
• You can view the child friendly version here, post primary and primary
