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Are
there differences between types of school?
A large study of bullying
in schools across Ireland (O'Moore and others, 1997) found
that at primary level, the size of school a pupil attended
did not make it more or less likely that he/she would be
bullied. However, the picture was different when it came
to bullying others. It was found that reports of bullying
others were highest in medium sized primary schools and
lowest in large primary schools. Did size of school make
a difference at secondary level? Yes, it was found that
being bullied and bullying others occurred most often in
small schools. Schools serving 'disadvantaged' areas (for
example areas with high unemployment levels) had more pupils
who reported bullying others, while no link was found between
pupils being bullied and the type of area the school served.
The study also found that a pupil was more likely to be
bullied or to bully others in city primary schools rather
than rural primary schools, however at secondary level the
opposite was true.
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Article details
A M O'Moore and S
J Minton 'Tackling Violence in Schools: a report from Ireland'.
This report can be viewed
online here.
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 Author
details
Professor Astrid Mona
O'Moore has been involved in extensive research into bullying
in Ireland. In 1993-94, she led the first nationwide survey
of bullying behaviour in Irish schools, which looked at
violence between pupils and also violence between pupils
and school staff. In a more recent survey, she examined
workplace bullying in schools. She is Co-ordinator of The
Anti-Bullying Centre, at the Department
of Education, Trinity College, The University of Dublin,
Dublin, The Republic of Ireland. Professor O'Moore may be
contacted by email.
In a large study which
looked at bullying in English and German schools (Wolke
and others, 2001) it was found that in England more bullying
occurred in small rather than large schools. No such link
with school size was found in Germany. It also found that
in England there was slightly more bullying in rural schools
rather than city schools.
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Article details
D Wolke, S Woods,
K Stanford, H Schulz (2001) 'Bullying and Victimization
of Primary School Children in England and Germany: prevalence
and school factors' in 'British Journal of Psychology',
Volume 92, Issue 4, pages 673-696.
In the early 1990s,
over 6,000 primary and secondary school children in Sheffield
were asked about bullying (Whitney and Smith, 1993). According
to this study, the size of school did not make it more or
less likely that a pupil would be bullied. Neither was the
ethnic mix of the school found to affect bullying levels.
However, the study did find some connection between 'social
disadvantage' (looking for example at the social class of
pupils and the quality of housing) and levels of bullying.
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Article details
I Whitney and P Smith
(1993) 'A Survey of the Nature and Extent of Bullying in
Junior/Middle and Secondary Schools' in 'Educational Research',
Volume 35, Number 1, Spring.
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 Author
details
Professor Peter K
Smith is Head of the Unit for School and Family Studies,
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London. He
has been involved in bullying research for a number of years
and has published widely on this topic.
Peter Smith may be
contacted by email,
and the website of the Unit for School and Family Studies
at Goldsmiths College may be found
here.
A 1989 Scottish study
found that there was little difference between bullying
levels in city and country schools. However, it was found
that bullying was more likely to occur in schools in small
industrial towns, where pupils lived near the school.
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Article details
A Mellor (1989) 'Bullying.
Not Worth Bothering About? A Study of Bullying in Scottish
Secondary Schools', unpublished. A reference copy of this
report is held by the Anti-Bullying Network.
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 Author
details
At the time of the
study, Andrew Mellor was a practising teacher who had received
funding from the Scottish Education Department to carry
out this project. He has been actively involved in anti-bullying
work in Scotland for almost 15 years, speaking at conferences,
writing for academic and non-academic audiences and running
in-service courses for teachers. He is now manager of the
Anti-Bullying Network, which is funded by the Scottish Executive
and based at The University of Edinburgh.
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