New anti-bullying measures welcome

In August, the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science published its report on School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health.

In the report, the committee made a total of 28 recommendations, including 10 key recommendations, which they believe can be implemented without delay and could have a transformative impact.

This week the Education Minister Norma Foley went back before the committee to update them on the progress of implementation of the report.

On Tuesday she told them that Department of Education inspectors will investigate bullying issues through inspections that will be carried out unannounced in schools.

There will then be feedback to schools after the inspections about how they are implementing anti-bullying procedures.

There will also be the publication of an interim composite report on how the anti-bullying procedures are being implemented.

On bullying, “I commit to doing all that I can to prevent its occurrence,” she told the committee. “From the beginning of 2022, the monitoring of anti-bullying measures within schools will be extended to all inspection types and will include looking at the actions of the school to create a positive school culture as well as the implementation of important aspects of the anti-bullying procedures.”

There is also to be a review and updating of the department's action plan on bullying and anti-bullying procedures.

Bullying is one of the most insidious and destructive aspects of life as a child. Unfortunately it is also very common.

We’ve all either suffered it or witnessed it, or have even been a bully. It’s clear to most of us just how traumatic the effect of bullying can be on a child.

It’s also a worrying indication for the future of the bully. There is not that much recent data in the area but some older studies indicate a very strong correlation between kids who bully in school and are then arrested in their 20s.

Scandinavia long-range studies found that approximately 60 per cent of boys who were characterised as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one conviction by the age of 24. Even more dramatically, as much as 30-40 per cent of former bullies had three or more convictions by this age.

Bullying can now become an almost random thing, as meaningless as being due to the year you were born.

Recently in France kids have been bullied and attacked due to their age - the year they were born. Over the past month, an #Anti2010 movement has gained popularity on TikTok with posts encouraging users to form an “anti-2010 police”.

It’s not even clear how it started or why, but the result is that 11 year old kids starting secondary school have been targeted online and in schools.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer called the harassment campaign “completely stupid and against our values”.

Any new anti-bullying measures here are to be welcomed of course. Let’s hope they make a real impact.