Sat 22 Sep 2007 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The UK government's Schools Secretary is urging schools to take stronger action against 'cyberbullying' and homophobic insults, following a new study into bullying of young people. According to the government's research, more than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have faced some kind of cyberbullying - the use of mobile phones and the internet to threaten, intimidate, harass, impersonate or "cyber-stalk" their victims. Schools Secretary Ed Balls said cyber bullying was "insidious" and had grown with technology and changes in society. Balls also called for action against anti-gay bullying - calling for schools to promote a "culture of respect" and saying that "homophobic insults should be viewed as seriously as racism". "The vast majority of schools are safe environments to learn in. However, we know that behaviour, particularly bullying, is a key concern for parents and bullying of any kind is unacceptable," said the Schools Secretary. Schools have been told they can confiscate mobile phones and how to get hurtful material pulled from websites. Ministers are also launching an awareness campaign on the social networking sites used by many young people. "Cyberbullying is a particularly insidious type of bullying as it can follow young people wherever they go and the anonymity that it seemingly affords to the perpetrator can make it even more stressful for the victim," Balls explains. "One message that I want to get across to young people is that bystanders can inadvertently become perpetrators - simply by passing on videos or images, they are playing a part in bullying." undefined undefinedThe ATL teachers' union also backed the need for action against homophobic bullying - saying that it remained a "pervasive" problem in schools. A survey for the union found that 70% of teachers had heard children in their schools using homophobic language. undefined undefined Among the new guidelines are tips for drawing up policies to cover cyber bullying, how to have offensive or malicious material removed from websites, and advice on confiscating equipment used in bullying, such as mobile phones. The new measures were developed in consultation with anti-bullying experts, mobile phone companies and websites including Bebo, MySpace and YouTube. Ref: BBC News (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 22nd September 2007 - 9:46am