One in five primary school children will experience bullying this school year, according to data from the DCU National Anti-Bullying Centre.
All this week on Newstalk, we are Standing up to Bullying.
We’ll be hearing from teachers, parents and students about what they need to drive change in our schools, learn how to deal with cyberbullying and find out how to spot the signs of bullying and support our children through it.
The initiative is in partnership with the DCU National Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC).
#StandUpToBullying
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, NABC Director Prof James O'Higgins Norman outlined how widespread the problem currently is in Ireland.
“The data shows that about 22% of primary school children this year and 12% of post-primary school children this year will experience bullying of one sort or another – online or offline,” he said.
“So that’s a pretty number of the student body going into school this morning who will experience that, so it is a big problem that needs to be tackled by everyone in our school communities.”
Bullying
He said Ireland has seen improvements in recent years but warned that we need to redouble our efforts to stamp out bullying.
“We are doing a lot better than we were in the past,” he said. “Since 2013, every school in the country is required to have an anti-bullying policy and implement the procedures that have been set down by the Department of Education.
“However, it is quite difficult and challenging to maintain those policies and implement them consistently all of the time throughout the school year.
“When we look at the data for Ireland and compare it other countries we are pretty much in the middle – there are countries that are worse and countries that are better than us.
“So, we need to double our efforts and really attack this problem.”
Online Bullying
Prof O’Higgins Norman said online bullying has become a serious issue in many schools.
“We all know it is there now and it is something that has to be tackled as well as the offline bullying,” he said.
“They are very closely related. If somebody is bullied offline, it is most likely to go online. It is much more difficult and much more serious in terms of the impact on a young person.
“We just can’t get away from the internet and even if you switch off all your devices, there can still be something happening online that is about you or that is trying to target you and there is a concern and a worry there in the child all the time, that that might be going on.
“It is pervasive and it is across the whole of our lives now in terms of the internet, so it makes it more difficult to deal with it.”
He said the month of October is a good time to really focus on the problem with children settled back into school and parents and teachers back into the school day routine.
To help us #StandUpToBullying, Newstalk wants to hear about your experiences.
To share your story, text us on 53106 or share your story at Newstalk.com/YourStory.
Childline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for any child or young person who would like to talk about bullying or any other issue on their mind.
You can contact Childline by calling 1800 66 66 66, texting 50101 or chatting online at Childline.ie.
