”Anti-bullying week” is almost upon us, and it could hardly be more timely.
Every day, we all see and read stories about bullying across the UK and further afield. Allegations about individuals with the highest profiles (in the Palace of Westminster and the boardrooms of some of our top companies) are common, and thankfully, despite having the funds and legal teams to obtain “gagging orders”, names will and have come out. These individuals are being shamed in the court of public opinion, if not yet the courts of law.
On Monday 12 November schools and other organisations across the country will once again engage in a week of wide ranging activities aimed at highlighting this pernicious problem. This year’s theme is “Choose Respect”, with the first ever ”Stop, Speak, Support” cyberbullying day on Thursday 15 November. I can think of a few adults who should certainly be encouraged to choose respect...
So much good work has been done since the first Anti-Bullying Week in 2005, particularly by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and others. It’s important that this isn’t minimised by the reported shocking bullying and harassing behaviour by the “grown-ups” that we are seeing on a daily basis.
As we know with all learning, we have to start with the youngest children - we have to be relentless in working with children, families and communities to bring influence to bear. I know that sometimes it can feel like we’re swimming against the tide, but this work must go on and we cannot afford to be simply reactive. It cannot be about managing incidents. Our approach must be proactive - we should focus on the wider development of social, emotional and behavioural skills, not simply in the children but also those of the adults around them.
While all schools would say they’re active in tackling bullying, we should all be reflecting on our programmes, policies and practices. Is anti-bullying high profile in our organisations and are we all sharing recognised definitions of what is and importantly what is not bullying, with pupils, parents, staff and colleagues? Is everybody clear that bullying is usually considered to be ongoing, deliberately hurtful and also involving an imbalance of power? That it can come in many shapes? We must consider the nature of our actions against all forms, in particular quickly growing problems around prejudiced-based bullying and that which uses new technologies.
I often reflect on how schools have constantly had to evolve to meet society’s ever changing demands, but I do remember the great optimism of the work around anti-bullying that was part of a previous government’s National Strategies programme, alongside the “Healthy Schools” programme.
A systematic curriculum was provided for children throughout their school years to support the development of the crucial skills that we all rely on in all aspects of our lives. The programmes included age-appropriate anti-bullying activities aimed at supporting all schools in the build-up to and follow up from Anti-Bullying Weeks, and I witnessed first-hand a significant take up in the theme each year.
Critically, this wasn’t just about the children. The resources included training for staff and parents, often provided by local authority specialists and supported by a regional and national structure. It brought together experts from education and health services, along with colleagues from organisations such as the NSPCC and their Regional Anti Bullying Advisers. A plethora of resources were available and it felt like on the ground positive advancements were being made, perhaps for the first time since the Elton Report first formally highlighted the problem in 1989.
However, leadership changes and so do priorities and directions. Out went the taught programmes and accompanying wealth of materials and in came brief official advice on “preventing and tackling bullying”, with some limited additional guidance.
One might reflect that at least we have the previous resources to draw on, produced by government at great expense, but these were swiftly archived and placed out of reach. We didn’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. These were crucial and highly effective tools in the fight against bullying and harassment: perhaps the rise in reported bullying might be connected?
It’s hard to say, but it certainly left an unhelpful hole in the toolkit available to schools. It also sent a powerful message that these skills were not important or essential and, by association, that bullying was equally unimportant. There are no official statistics on the number of children who are bullied, but from research studies and from what children recently told NSPCC, we know that this is an issue that continues to affect almost all children in some way, with over 19,000 Childline counselling sessions taking place with children about bullying in 2017-18.
It’s clear that action must be taken. It must be at all levels and be at the top of all our agendas. Whether we work in schools, voluntary organisations, teacher training and higher education institutions, business or politics, we all need to recognise and report bullying wherever we see it and in whatever form it comes.
Becoming involved in Anti-Bullying Week is a great start, but a return to or increase in our work on developing those vital social, emotional and behavioural skills must be promoted if we are to really have an impact.
We could perhaps start by chasing down those hidden resources, or working with the latest programmes, such as Trauma-Informed Schools, which work around bullying and what neuroscience and psychological research can tell us about prevention and intervention.
Whatever we do, we need seriously to consider how together we can support our children and help them to develop into adults who will behave more appropriately.
When they become leading figures in the future, will they be equipped to set the much-needed examples that are sorely needed in today’s society?
Mark Heaton is a principal lecturer and recruitment lead for Teacher Education at the Sheffield Institute of Education
