Bullying Prevention

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behaviour among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

There are 3 main types of bullying: verbal, social and physical.

In order to be considered bullying, the behaviour must be aggressive and include:

• An imbalance of power: kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Repetition: bullying behaviours happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
• There are lots of myths associated with bullying, in this course we will explore and debunk those myths.
• Any child or young person is at risk of being bullied, but there are certain factors that put a child at greater risk of suffering bullying. We will explore these factors to assist you identify those children you may want to keep an extra close eye on.

Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation.

The effects of cyberbullying also include mental health issues, increased stress and anxiety, depression, acting out violently, and low self-esteem. Cyberbullying can also result in long-lasting emotional effects, even if the bullying has stopped.

Keeping Children Safe in Education provides many references to bullying, including cyberbullying and the impact that bullying can have on the mental health and wellbeing of a child. Remember if you are a designated safeguarding lead in an educational organisation, you have extra duties when it comes to online safety.

We need to be able to understand where bullying may become harassment, blackmail or grooming. This will enable you to educate the young people you are engaging with about the risks of harassment, blackmail and grooming from their peers i.e. Peer on peer abuse and sexually harmful behaviour.

It is crucial that you know how to support someone that is being bullied and support the bully themselves. This includes having those difficult conversations with parents and caregivers. Effective discipline and re-education is crucial to stopping bullying in its track and preventing reoccurrence.

This course has been created and delivered by Milly Wildish, a child protection specialist who has worked in criminal and education settings. Milly is a national safeguarding panel member and is currently engaged in a large-scale independent investigation, into current and historical allegations of child abuse.