Memorandum submitted by the Association
of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of School and College
Leaders represents 13,000 members of leadership teams in maintained
and independent schools and colleges throughout the UK. Bullying
in schools is clearly of major interest to our members at the
institutional level and out of their concern for the education
system as a whole.
2. Leaders and staff in schools and
colleges take bullying very seriously. We know the negative impact
it has on children's lives.
3. Bullying in all its forms is unacceptable
and schools and colleges are both proactive and reactive in dealing
with this issue.
4. However, bullying is to be found
in all walks of life and in all institutions. It is not exclusive
to young people or just schools and colleges, though it is of
particular concern when vulnerable and immature people are affected,
which of course includes children in school. It is therefore important
that a clear definition of bullying is set which allows adults
in and associated with schools to discriminate between the ebb
and flow of relationships and true bullying.
5. Bullying is the repeated and deliberate
bad treatment of one person by another over a length of time.
The treatment can consist of verbal abuse, unpleasant or derogatory
comments, threats, name calling or physical abuse. It can be carried
out by an individual or a group. It is one group or individual
attempting to assert power and control over another.
6. There are many other definitions
which could be used but all identify that the unacceptable actions
of others are hurtful, deliberate and repeated.
7. In the ebb and flow of a relationship
friends can fall out or make new friends and this can impact on
other students who are not sufficiently mature to accept and move
on from this rejection. This applies more often to girls. Students
need a set of skills to deal with these events and need another
set of skills to deal with bullying. Schools use their pastoral
systems and Personal, Social, Health and Career Education programmes
(PSHCE) to provide opportunities for students to develop these
skills. This learning should help them with developing their adult
relationships. Schools try to work with parents and carers to
help them support their children through these times.
8. Bullying is not something that can
be stamped out forever. It can only be combated by a continuous
process of educating, learning, identifying, modelling, using
strategies and developing emotional intelligence. As the different
year cohorts move through schools and colleges so leaders and
staff continue this process.
9. ASCL considers that it is a human
as well as a professional responsibility to show bullying to be
unacceptable, but it is also essential that we have strategies
to challenge and support the bully as well as support and nurture
the victim.
10. Schools and colleges cannot carry this
responsibility on their own. Parents and carers have a duty to
educate and model behaviour which engenders robust emotional health
and shows clearly that bullying is socially unacceptable. Sometimes
students come from homes where this early and continual parental
guidance is not available. This presents institutions with a difficult
challenge that requires more help than they can provide.
11. We believe that key to a child's emotional
well being and to their ability to reject bullying is their self
esteem and self confidence. Schools work hard to develop and nurture
these essential elements of an individual's self worth. Opportunities
are designed to achieve this through the PSHCE curriculum, across
the subject curriculum and through extra curricular activities.
Staff are expected to value each child and model interactions
and behaviour which demonstrates commitment to self worth.
12. We have organised our remarks as follows:
(b) Scale of bullying. How do we
know?
(c) Strategies employed to combat
bullying.
(e) Measures to improve anti bullying
action in schools and colleges.
B. SCALE OF
BULLYING. HOW
DO WE
KNOW?
13. Preventative measures are taken by school
and college leaders to educate and inform students and parents
about bullying issues. Members also use hard and soft data to
ensure they have knowledge of bullying in their institutions.
It is important that they know so that appropriate action can
be taken using the anti bullying policy.
14. Schools and colleges operate on a set
of values which accentuate respect, dignity and tolerance. These
values underpin all that an institution does; with committed staff,
governors and leaders a culture is created where students feel
happy, safe and achieve.
15. Members employ a variety of means to
both check the health of a school in terms of bullying and to
identify any incidents of bullying.
16. Staff may refer concerns about behaviour
in particular changes in behaviour which could indicate a student
is being bullied. Pastoral staff, including support staff (those
who are not teachers), also play a major role by knowing their
students and related friendship groups and constantly monitoring
the emotional wellbeing of their students.
17. Parents may also contact leaders with
concerns about their children which could indicate bullying. Such
contact is always taken seriously but often we are asked to act
in a low key way because parents prefer that their child or others
do not know of the contact. In these circumstances we do take
action often citing our own concerns as a reason for our investigation
into an issue.
18. Sometimes students self refer if they
feel that they have a strong relationship with a member of staff.
This cry for help is again always taken seriously and appropriate
action taken. Other students may see bullying taking place and
know that this will not be tolerated by the school and consequently
tell a member of staff.
19. Other means of checking bullying include
consultation with form councils and school council where the elected
members are active in reporting concerns or perhaps problem areas
around the school. Colleagues report that this is a useful means
of gaining information.
20. Further means of gathering information
include focus groups and the use of regular questionnaires.
21. This is not an exhaustive list of means
employed for gathering information but it illustrates school leaders'
commitment to making bullying uncool.
C. STRATEGIES
EMPLOYED
22. Schools and college leaders employ a
wide range of strategies to combat bullying. There is no one size
fits all solution, each school finds robust methods to educate
about bullying, and to identify and stop it.
23. New secondary students require an induction
period during which they receive clear messages about their new
school and its expectations. Students will have come from varying
primary schools often much smaller in size than the average secondary
school. Mid year admission students also need a clear induction
programme which includes the schools expectations of behaviour
and anti bullying procedures.
24. Head teachers and leadership teams are
crucial to the success of an anti bullying policy. Whilst all
staff are expected to implement the policy it is the senior team
who give a clear steer and message about bullying. If clear and
fair actions are taken and there are no reprisals then the students,
parents and staff have confidence and power to deal with issues.
25. Parents are encouraged to work with
secondary schools and colleges on their child's admission by talks,
newsletters, information leaflets and communication with our institutions.
Parent partnership is essential as when they and schools work
together most problems can be solved.
26. The form tutor and head of year pastoral
relationships are important to parents for communication especially
in a large education institution. They are also a point of contact
and information for the students, who receive quality listening
time from adults who can advise students and provide strategies
and support.
27. A range of staff who can provide students
and parents with more specialised help now work in schools and
colleges. Mentors, counsellors, education welfare officers (EWOs),
youth workers school based police officers (SBPOs), health professional
and others can be found in many institutions. They add to the
school's response to the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda
and contribute to its anti bullying ethos. For example, an appropriate
SBPO professional is a powerful force who is seen as a figure
of authority inside and outside school, again reinforcing the
anti bullying message. Mediation skills are a highly useful means
of solving bullying issues.
28. Restorative justice is one successful
strategy used not just in bullying issues. It sends a message
to the bully and their associates and to the school community
that bullies will be held responsible for their actions and will
be expected to make restoration.
29. Schools who can buy in mental health
professionals report the success of this action. However many
schools cannot afford to provide this type of support.
30. Clear communication pathways which are
quick and responsive to bullying concerns are established in schools
and colleges. Investigations into allegations of bullying need
to be swift and appropriate action taken, including communication
with parents.
31. Assemblies are used to reinforce the
positive message about achievement, self-esteem and self-confidence.
They also are used to convey our institutions' values and expectations
especially around bullying.
32. PSHCE and other student personal development
programmes are devised to emphasise the school and society's message
about value of the individual and strategies to deal with growing
up including social and emotional well being. The Social, Emotional
and Behavioural Skills (SEBS) curriculum is in the early stages
of development but information suggests that it helps students
to deal with emotional issues.
33. Nurture groups and reactivate groups
of students are proving useful in using peer pressure and social
dynamics to change students' behaviour. In some areas this is
supported by the education welfare service and youth service.
Where there is good practice these groups build up students self
esteem and self confidence.
34. Personalised timetables can also be
used judiciously to help students improve their self worth where
they feel that they are achieving and of value rather than failing
in school.
35. Schools and colleges set out clear expectations
of behaviour in codes of conduct, learning charters, learning
contracts, home/school agreements and similar documents. Where
students break these codes appropriate action is taken.
D. ISSUES
36. Some dysfunctional families model unacceptable
and anti social behaviour which is adopted by their children.
This behaviour can promote and condone bullying. As mentioned
earlier this provides a major challenge to schools and colleges.
School and college leaders do not accept this behaviour, but need
more support from external agencies to reinforce this stance.
37. The ECM agenda is still developing and
some agencies are more engaged than others in working with schools
to provide joined up action. It is important that there is information
sharing and that professionals drawn from various agencies work
together to support the child. This is not always the case.
38. School leaders report a worrying increase
in child mental health problems. Generally schools and colleges
are not trained to deal with such vulnerable and damaged children.
Whilst some students' behaviour can be explained by adolescence
some is beyond the experience and skills of school staff. More
accessible help is needed, more quickly.
39. Cyber bullying is of great concern to
school leaders. Mobile phone and internet bullying is extremely
difficult to combat as it is often done outside school, sometimes
by individuals who do not belong to the school community. Even
where there are bans on mobile phones in school students often
supported by parents are often able to circumvent them. Lost and
borrowed phones add to the problem in finding the bullies. Chat
rooms, blogs and personal web sites also exacerbate the problem.
Schools and colleges have strict policies about cyber access and
monitor internet and email usage but students often find ways
to evade access control and the magnitude of the task makes continuous
real time monitoring impossible. Parents must take responsibility
for cyber bullying that takes place outside school and know what
their children are accessing and saying on line.
40. Bullying brought into school from outside
is always difficult to deal with. Schools are part of a wider
community where there are family and friend interactions. Members
are being expected to deal with bullying issues which arise from
outside school often involving individuals over whom school leaders
have no jurisdiction. Support from external agencies is then required
and not always forthcoming.
41. As parents, we all love our children
but sometimes we need to challenge and question our child's interpretation
of alleged bullying. A particular child's story may not be the
whole truth, yet some parents will always believe their child.
School leaders always investigate and seek the truth. Sometimes
the outcome of an investigation is not the outcome parents want
to hear. The parent who will not accept the schools' findings
can become irrational and threatening.
42. Sadly, there are occasions when students
make malicious allegations about others who they say have bullied
them. Our zero tolerance of bullying can present an unhappy student
with an easy way to be vindictive. Generally school leaders can
recognise this and take appropriate action against a mischievous
claim.
43. ASCL feels that making anti bulling
week a one week occasion gives the wrong message to students and
parents. Bullying is unacceptable at any time and schools' curriculum
and strategies ensure that this is emphasised throughout the year.
An event for which students are encouraged to paint their faces
and hair blue does not give anti bullying the gravitas that it
deserves. Signing an anti bullying charter is unnecessary as schools
are committed to a set of values and mission which do not tolerate
bullying.
44. Staff development in dealing with bullying
is always welcome and ASCL would be pleased to support this, especially
in relation to the skills and experience which support staff professionals
bring into our institutions.
45. In mid year admissions and admissions
appeals parents can often cite bullying as the reason for leaving
a school. On investigation many colleagues find that there is
no evidence to support the claim. The damage to school reputations
is unacceptable, especially as the school has no way of defending
itself in this process.
E. MEASURES TO
IMPROVE ANTI
BULLYING ACTION
IN SCHOOLS
AND COLLEGES
46. The Anti-Bullying Alliance needs to
win the hearts and minds of secondary heads and senior leaders.
47. Further development is needed in the
ECM agenda to ensure all appropriate agencies work together and
share information.
48. The supply pool of professionals other
than teachers needs to be developed.
49. Investment in resources for schools
and colleges concerning self esteem and self confidence would
be useful.
50. Development of inter agency solutions,
eg reactivate groups, would be useful.
51. Schools and colleges should be asked
to identify what type of professional development is needed to
help staff to combat bullying. Efforts should then be made to
meet these requests.
52. Schools need help to deal with cyber
bullying.
53. Mental health issues need to be investigated
in school and provide appropriate support needs to be provided
for our members.
54. Some parents need help to develop appropriate
parenting skills.
55. There needs to be a clear recognition
of the difference between bullying and friendship break down.
56. Though there are particular failures,
schools and colleges are doing an excellent job in fighting bullying.
This should be recognised and good practice built on.
October 2006
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