Bullying ‘Torture’ Warning

Oct 10 2009 by Katie Norman, South Wales Echo

SCHOOL anti-bullying policies are leaving pupils to endure torture when they should be learning, according to a South Wales charity.

Maureen Booth- Martin, founder of Cardiff-based anti-bullying charity Children Under Risk From Bullying (CURB), believes young people are being put in harm’s way unnecessarily because many school anti-bullying policies are insufficient. Her comments came after Children’s Commissioner Keith Towler warned that anti-bullying policies in Welsh schools had proved “inconsistent and ineffective”.

Ms Booth-Martin said: “It doesn’t matter if the parents follow the school policies from A to Z, it still ends up with the same result – nothing is done, the family is distressed and the impact is horrific.

“The children are just emotionally and mentally destroyed and there’s nothing their parents can do about it.”  She said it was clear that schools’ anti-bullying policies were “not working at all”. “It’s as if these policies are in place to help protect the schools, the governors and the local authorities rather than the children,” she said.  “A child is going to die if we don’t do something about it soon.

At the moment, these children are being left, in many cases, to be tortured in schools. What we need is an independent organisation to look into cases of bullying so that it is dealt with fairly and quickly.”

Linda James, who runs Cardiff-based charity Bulliesout, said many parents find they are unable to access a copy of a school’s anti-bullying policy on request. She said: “This policy should be laminated and put on the wall for all to see – pupils, parents, teachers and visitors.  “I also feel that the government needs to introduce a clear anti-bullying policy for all schools to put in place. If every school had the same reporting system, it would be so much easier for staff, for people studying research and, most importantly, for the families of children being bullied.”

Mr Towler said some schools had very good anti-bullying policies filed away, but teachers had no idea they existed. “There’s still, in some areas, a reluctance to admit bullying happens in their school,” he said. “Those that say ‘bullying doesn’t happen here’ should be ashamed because bullying happens everywhere. The idea that you might ignore it or say you are a happy school is not helpful.”

The Welsh Assembly Government is reviewing its anti-bullying guidance to all schools and is trying to survey the extent of bullying. “Strategies have made a difference but we can’t rest on our laurels.  The feedback we have is that guidance provides a framework for schools. But we’ve got to learn from schools and the pupils about their evidence and be more specific with guidance,” said Education Minister Jane Hutt.

Bullying still exists in all schools, warns Children’s Commissioner for Wales

Oct 10 2009 by Abbie Wightwick, Western Mail

ANTI-BULLYING policies in Welsh schools have proved “inconsistent and ineffective”, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.  Speaking to the Western Mail, Keith Towler said some schools had tackled bullying with active, effective policies, but others had left the situation to deteriorate. Since 2003 all schools in Wales have been required by law to have anti-bullying policies.

But whether these are visible and used remains another matter and bullying still exists in every school, he warned.  “Implementation of anti-bullying policies is inconsistent and ineffective across Wales,” Mr Towler said.  “Because it’s inconsistent it has not worked yet.”

The Assembly Government is currently reviewing its anti-bullying guidance to all schools and trying to survey the extent of bullying. Education Minister Jane Hutt insisted anti-bullying policies had been effective, but admitted more must be done.

“Anti-bullying strategies have made a difference but we can’t rest on our laurels,” she said.  “The feedback we have is that guidance provides a framework for schools.  “But we’ve got to learn from schools and the pupils about their evidence and be more specific with guidance.”  The review will include more specific advice on how schools can tackle homophobic and cyber bullying and bullying of pupils with disabilities.

Mr Towler has made a number of recommendations to the review including improved initial teacher training on recognising and dealing with all bullying and on-going, on-the-job, training.  He would also like all schools to hold annual meetings with all staff to discuss bullying and for there to be constant reviews and updates of policies.

Mr Towler said he hoped the Assembly Government review would mean the policies eventually work to help reduce the problem everywhere.  “There’s still, in some areas a reluctance to admit bullying happens in their school,” he said.   “Those that say ‘bullying doesn’t happen here’ should be ashamed because bullying happens everywhere. The idea that you might ignore it or say you are a happy school is not helpful.”

He claimed some schools had “very good” anti-bullying policies on their shelves that teachers had no idea existed. Others had good policies that are acted upon and secondaries could learn from changes in primaries, he added.   “I’ve visited primaries where teachers are working really hard to create a warm, inclusive culture with playground ‘buddies’. That culture of awareness around bullying is what we need to see translated from primary to secondary.”

He also wants best practice in secondaries that has been shown to work to be shared with other schools. This includes secondaries which have peer mentors, buddying and other schemes.  Mr Towler is recommending to the review that secondaries use personal and social education lessons to teach pupils about internet safety to help address the increase in cyber bullying. He said adults were often one step behind on technology compared to the young people they teach and advice on how to deal with cyber bullying needed constant up-dating. Mr Towler would also like to see more mutual respect between staff and pupils.

He said he had been shocked to discover in one school toilet doors had been removed to prevent bullying in cubicles. Pupils had told him they no longer used the toilets owing to lack of privacy.  “That school now has toilet doors with locks so it must have tackled bullying to some extent,” he added.

Maureen Booth-Martin, who runs the Cardiff-based charity Children Under Risk From Bullying (CURB), agreed that something needed to be done to address schools’ anti-bullying  policies.  They’re not working at all,” she said. “It’s as if these policies are in place to help protect the schools, the governors and the local authorities rather than the children. A child is going to die if we don’t do something about it soon. At the moment, these children are being left, in many cases, to be tortured in schools.   “What we need is an independent organisation to look into cases of bullying so it is dealt with fairly and quickly.”

Many schools in Wales claim to have anti-bullying policies in place, but Linda James, of Cardiff-based charity Bulliesout, said many parents find they are unable to access a copy of the policy when they request it.  She said: “This policy should be laminated and put on the wall for all to see – pupils, parents, teachers and visitors. I also feel the government needs to introduce a clear anti-bullying policy for all schools to put in place.”