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Is
support from the wider community (eg police, bus companies,
outside agencies) important?
A Scottish study of
bullying found that there were sometimes close links between
the 10 schools involved and outside agencies such as the
police, psychological services and social work department.
However, when it came to sharing information, it seemed
that it was usually schools contacting the agencies rather
than the other way around. Part of this may be due to problems
with confidentiality.
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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 Unpublished.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 at Edinburgh
University.
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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.
It has been argued
that a good anti-bullying policy should take into account
the role and involvement of not just teaching and non-teaching
staff (for example kitchen staff), but of the wider community.
This includes not just families but others from the local
community who are directly or indirectly involved with the
school including school bus drivers, doctors, shopkeepers
and police, youth clubs and scouts. It is pointed out that
if for example, shopkeepers and bus drivers felt they were
part of a school community which did not tolerate bullying,
they could, in their daily contact with pupils look out
for and report bullying incidents, which might otherwise
go unnoticed. Likewise doctors could use their unique knowledge
to alert the school to a possible bullying problem. In the
Republic of Ireland there is formal input into anti bullying
programmes from the Gardai (police). Over 600 guardia are
specially trained and involved in primary schools.
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Article details
B J Byrne (1997) 'Bullying:
a community approach', paper in the journal 'The Irish Journal
of Psychology', Volume 18, Number 2. Special Issue: 'Bullying
Behaviour in Schools.' Guest editor A M O'Moore.
One paper has suggested
ways in which agencies such as the local authority education
and psychological services and social work departments could
possibly support the anti-bullying work of schools. Suggestions
include: helping develop strategies, contributing to staff
development, providing background information and helping
with support groups.
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Article details
Scottish Office Education
Department (1994) 'School Boards. Focus on Bullying', Focus
Number 4, Edinburgh: Scottish Office Education Department.
This paper can be downloaded
here.
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