Senior leadership teams say teachers “lack time” to deliver anti-bullying lessons, according to findings published today.
And their efforts to ensure that students embrace diversity are constrained by the demands of the national curriculum, says a report from the Diversity Role Models (DRM) charity.
DRM receives Department for Education funding to empower schools to “take a stand against all forms of bullying”, as part of the “Embracing Difference, Ending Bullying” programme.
It has produced a report on the types of bullying taking place in schools, as well as the barriers SLTs face in tackling the issue.
The report calls on the government to do more to “allow teachers the time to address the issues they see in their schools”.
In the survey of 67 SLTs, leaders identified a “lack of time to plan and deliver lessons” and the “constraints of the national curriculum” as “key barriers to improving education related to bullying and embedding a celebration of difference throughout the curriculum”.
One school leader told DRM that the national curriculum was “not conducive to promoting diversity”.
The Embracing Difference, Ending Bullying programme delivered by DRM is part of scheme funded by the DfE to support schools and provide training to tackle bullying.
Tackling bullying in schools
DRM received just over £187,000 in DfE funding to work with schools for up to three years by supplying training, intervention and resources to give staff the knowledge and skills to tackle bullying.
Today’s report reveals findings after the end of its first year working with schools.
When SLTs were asked to respond to the statement that staff were confident to teach diverse content, 21 per cent disagreed while 79 per cent agreed.
And a quarter of SLT respondents said the curriculum needed to be “diversified” through “representations in class and greater exposure to diversity and differences”.
The report states: “More can be done by government, within local authorities, trusts, initial teacher training providers and by exam boards to embed a celebration of difference and discussions around prejudice-based bullying into the curriculum and allow teachers the time to address the issues they see in their schools.”
It also recommends that diversity lessons should be embedded in all subjects across the curriculum, not just in PSHE.
Students ‘lack confidence’ in school response
DRM also surveyed 3,184 secondary school students about the kind of bullying they experience.
More than a third (35 per cent) of respondents agreed that pupils are judged or treated badly at school because of their differences.
Furthermore, in secondary schools in particular, the survey found bullying likely to be under-reported by pupils, who lacked confidence in their school’s responses to bullying.
Just under two-thirds (65 per cent) said they would report bullying or prejudice to a teacher if they witnessed it.
The report says that in secondary schools there “seemed to be a greater correlation between some areas of diversity that are less regularly discussed and higher levels of bullying” with an example of these being LGBT+ and disability.
DRM chief executive officer Matt Garvey said that embedding diversity in curriculum subjects “could strengthen inclusive education and reduce bullying for groups such as LGBT+ pupils”.
He said that, while schools want to tackle bullying, teachers say they “lack the confidence to talk about diversity, often for fear of saying the wrong thing”.
He said that the lack of time cited by leaders was particularly a problem in light of the “pressure of post-pandemic catch-up”.
A DfE spokesperson said that bullying is “never acceptable in any form” and that everyone must “take a stand against it” in order to “create a safe place for all children in the classroom and online”.
The spokesperson said that the DfE is supporting schools “to tackle all forms of bullying through funding to anti-bullying charities, ongoing work to improve behaviour and by teaching pupils about respect and tolerance as part of our RSHE curriculum”.
They also said the DfE had provided guidance “on teaching this as part of new and existing school subjects”.
