Research

In the Spring Term of 2003, 4 conferences were organised for Primary and Secondary students.

Charnwood Arts prepared a wide range of activities to give students the opportunity to discuss the issue of bullying and look for possible long-term permanent solutions.

As part of the first conference in February pupils created questionnaires to help gather responses from parents and the wider community.

The questionnaires were created by the students and circulated to parents, students and staff. The purpose was to gain a detailed understanding of life in our schools and the extent and impact of bullying on the whole school community.

The response was overwhelming with almost 6,000 questionnaires returned.

The responses from the questionnaire showed clearly that incidents of bullying evoke great feeling and passion.

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Findings of the Primary Questionnaire - Parents (Spring/ Summer 2003)

1002 PRIMARY PARENTS/ CARERS RESPONDED

1. Were you ever bullied as a child?

	% of Parents
YES	44
NO	56

2. Did you ever bully anyone?

	% of Parents
YES	7.5
NO	92.5

3. How do you think schools dealt with bullying in the past? (1 = well and 10 = very badly)

	% of Parents
1	5.6
2	1.9
3	4.8
4	4.6
5	25
6	5.8
7	9.9
8	17.2
9	3.9
10	21.4

4. How do you think schools deal with bullying now? (1 = well and 10 = very badly)

	% of Parents
1	11.9
2	10
3	16.3
4	9.8
5	20.7
6	7.1
7	8.2
8	11.5
9	2.2
10	3.2

5. From your experience:
a) Does your school have a problem with bullying (0 no, 10 serious problem)

	% of Parents
0	33.2
1	11
2	14.2
3	14.6
4	6.2
5	11.6
6	3.1
7	2.3
8	1.8
9	0.5
10	1.6

b) Does your child's school take bullying seriously?

	% of Parents
YES	93
NO	7

c) Are you confident that the school will listen to your concerns?

	% of Parents
YES	89.2
NO	10.8

d) Are you confident that the school will tell you if your child is bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	65
NO	35

E) Does your child's school have a bullying policy?

	% of Parents
YES	70.4
NO	0.4
DON'T KNOW	29.2

f) Have you seen a copy of it?

	% of Parents
YES	42.3
NO	47.2
N/A	10.5

g) Has it been explained to you?

	% of Parents
YES	28.2
NO	57.4
N/A	14.4

h) Do you know what to do if your child is bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	91.5
NO	8.5

6. Have you ever:
a) Talked to your child about bullying?

	% of Parents
YES	93.2
NO	6.8

b) Given your child advice about bullying?

	% of Parents
YES	91.7
NO	8.3

7. Would you tell a friend/neighbour if you knew their child was being bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	98.7
NO	1.3

8. Has your child been bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	47.5
NO	52.5

9. If yes, where did it take place?

	% of Parents
Playground	66.7
Classroom	22.0
Toilets	6.9
School Bus	4.4

10. When did it take place?

	% of Parents
Playtime	43.8
Lunchtime	31.3
In lessons	15.6
After school	5.4
Before school	3.9

11. What action did you take?

	% of Parents
Spoke to school	67.2
Spoke to child	23.6
Spoke to parents	5.9
Spoke to bully	3.3

12. Were you happy with the way the school dealt with it? (1 = very happy and 10 = very unhappy)

	% of Parents
0	25.9
1	9.4
2	11.8
3	5.7
4	13.6
5	4.7
6	4.9
7	8.4
8	3.9
9	11.6

13. What action would you take it your child was bullied?

	% of Parents
Inform school	73.7
See bully's parents	12.5
See bully	3.8
Remove child from school	1.6
Contact LEA	1.4
Contact governors	1.3
Other	5.6

14. Why do you think children bully?

	% of Parents
Home background	28.7
Emotional problems	26.0
Peer pressure	12.4
Jealousy	11.8
Power/ domination	11.4
Bullied themselves	5.2
For fun/ bored	4.5

15. What can schools do to prevent bullying?

	% of Parents
Strict policy	36.0
Involve parents and pupils	22.3
Educate pupils	19.0
Improve monitoring and supervision	15.8
Create positive ethos	4.1
Remove/ exclude bully	2.7

16. What would you do if your child was a bully?

	% of Parents
Help/ talk to the child about reasons	54.8
Work with school/ seek advice	28.2
Punish child	13.3
Don't know	3.7

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Significant Comments from Primary Parents and Carers

Why do you think children bully?

"They fail to recognise that we are all connected to each other and should be selfless and not selfish."

What can schools do to prevent bullying?

"Promote self-esteem. Have a good policy where children can tell."

"Have an active approach with an Anti-Bullying Policy that children are involved in creating."

"Staff can set an example by making the topic one that is openly discussed and addressed within the class."

"Have older responsible children on patrols at playtimes."

"Show the effects of bullying by use of hard-hitting videos, presentations and talks detailing the effects of bullying."

"Stop ignoring it! Create a supportive environment where it is O.K to tell."

"Speak to child and child's parents, if it didn't stop – take parents to court. In severe cases of bullying the parents of the bully should be taken to court and given a large fine – parents should take responsibility of their child's actions."

What would you do if your child was a bully?

"Find the reason and try to help. It is not indicative of the lack of confidence in the system of education that we find it difficult to offer a postcode because of the sensitivity of this topic. Perhaps a parent governor could have responsibility for a bullying policy."

"Find out why and by who by talking to them and investigating what is concerning them and why they feel it necessary to take this action. This process would have to be carried out without aggression as I feel as a parent we should control aggression and lead by example as aggression is part of bullying."

"I would speak to him myself and tell him about my previous experience (which I have done already), which I feel has made my son understand how upsetting and hurtful it can be for an individual to be bullied . . . Some people manage in the end to cope with it, but it can also have the opposite effect and scar certain individuals for the rest of their lives."

"Try to find out why and ask the school for assistance to stop the bullying behaviour. If there is a problem in school that was not resolved by open discussion and policies in place, I would suggest a more pro-active solution. For example, peer counsellors - Year 6 pupils - who are trained to be a contact point for other pupils. Also the counsellors would discuss the problem and help the school to raise the profile of 'bullying' and its causes. Discussing bullying in School Councils would help as well.

"I have already spoken to my child about bullying and I have said that if anyone bullies you then hit back. I brought my children up not to hit back. But now I tell them to hit back because the teachers do nothing and nor do the Headteachers."

"Speak to the school and seek their advice. Playtimes are the most common times for a child to be bullied. Children tend to ignore the lunchtime supervisors and I therefore feel that if there was more of a teacher presence during these breaks there would be fewer incidents of bullying. In the past 4-5 years my child has informed lunchtime supervisors about problems in the playground and it has been ignored."

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Preliminary Findings of the Secondary Questionnaire - Parents (Spring/ Summer 2003)

114 SECONDARY PARENT/CARERS RESPONDED

1. Have you or any other members of your family been bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	70
NO	30

School Policy

2. Are you aware of the schools policy on bullying?

	% of Parents
YES	85
NO	15

3. Do you think the school policy is effective?

	% of Parents
YES	57.5
NO	42.5

4. Have you seen a copy of the school policy?

	% of Parents
YES	59
NO	41

5. Do you know what to do if your child is bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	94.3
NO	5.7

6. Have you ever talked about it to your child?

	% of Parents
YES	91
NO	9

7. Does your child's school have a problem with bullying? (0 not serious – 10 serious)

	% of Parents
0-4	51
4-5	21.5
6-10	27.5

8. Does your child's school take bullying seriously?

	% of Parents
YES	84.3
NO	15.7

9. Has your child been bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	49.5
NO	40.8
DON'T KNOW	9.7

10. What type of bullying was it?

	% of Parents
Verbal	44.3
Physical	23.5
Indirect	32.2

11. Where did bullying occur?

	% of Parents
Playground	29
Classroom	23.3
Outside school	20
Corridors	15.2
Bus	10
Other	2.5

12. Were you happy with the way the school dealt with it?

	% of Parents
1-5 (YES)	44.5
6-10 (NO)	55.5

13. Has your child witnessed bullying?

	% of Parents
YES	69.4
NO	7.4
DON'T KNOW	23.2

14. Would you know if your child had been bullied?

	% of Parents
YES	92.25
NO	7.75

15. Do you think they would tell you?

	% of Parents
YES	86.5
NO	13.5

16. If "no" how would you expect to find out?

	% of Parents
Guess (from behaviour)	38.5
From school	20.5
From friend	20.5
Injuries/ appearance	18
Other	2.5

17. Has there been many problems with racism at school?

	% of Parents
YES	27.5
NO	72.5

18. Ethnic/Cultural background

	% of Parents
White	91.75
Mixed	3.1
Asian	4.15
Black	1

19. Do you know your child's friends well?

	% of Parents
YES	81
NO	19

20. Do you approve of your child's friends?

	% of Parents
YES	95.1
NO	4.9

21. Has your child ever been accused of bullying?

	% of Parents
YES	10
NO	90

23. What do you think schools should do to combat bullying?

	% of Parents
Apply strict policy	36.4
Involve student/ parents	32.3
Educate students	12
Remove / exclude bully	8.4
Improve supervision	6.7
Create positive ethos	2.1
Train staff	2.1

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Significant Comments from Secondary Parents and Carers

What do you think schools should do to combat bullying?

"Implement the school policy consistently."

"Peer mediation, staff intervention when necessary; in severe or long-term cases, inform parents and form individual plan to suit circumstances."

"Have a school council bullying session each month so children can go and confess to rather than go to a teacher."

"Encourage people to talk about it, and to realise its effects and causes and to stand against it in all forms."

"Follow up with parents, make sure that children are able to be themselves."

"Be aware, act quickly and involve the bully and the child being bullied in mediation."

"Adopt 'NO TOLERANCE' attitude. Take all cases seriously. Take action immediately. Deal with culprits immediately."

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