File Photo In a New Zealand first study, 94 per cent of staff surveyed by a Victoria University researcher report they have seen bullying in their school. Dr Vanessa Green surveyed 860 teachers and senior staff from primary, intermediate and secondary schools around New Zealand about their experiences with, perceptions of, and attitudes towards bullying. “The majority of teachers and senior school management personnel are concerned, and there is a general feeling that we need to do something about it,” Dr Green says. Nearly half of those who took part in the survey said instances of verbal bullying were being brought to their attention weekly. Dr Green says the study shows that bullying is a national problem that must be addressed. “The internet has made bullying a more complex issue than it was 20 years ago and, as a result, it requires a more sophisticated response. The old methods may not be as effective as they were. We need to be thinking in a more creative way about how to address bullying,” she says. Dr Green believes bullying has become so common that it is almost seen as a normal part of growing up. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can change attitudes.” Dr Green says although programmes to deal with bullying are widely available, they are being used by less than a third of the schools represented in the survey. “Just under half of all respondents had received training on how to deal with bullying, and most of that training was quite a few years ago. So it’s not surprising that many teachers, principals and schools don’t know what to do about the issue.” Bullying is a major issue for gay young people, with the Youth '07 survey finding gay students are three times more likely to be bullied at school. There are no available statistics about the bullying of trans students yet, but they could come from the Youth 12 study, if funding is secured to analyse the figures already gathered.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 13th August 2013 - 12:53pm