What can children who tell expect from adults?

When over 2,000 English school children were asked about bullying, the answers of children who had been bullied revealed that telling someone usually helped. Teachers and family were found to be the most helpful. The action they took would, more than half the time, either stop or lessen the bullying. Action taken by classmates would be less effective, making things better just under half the time. An important finding is that while teachers can often make things much better, in a few cases the way they handle things can make things worse. In fact children found there was slightly more chance of teachers making things worse than family or classmates. So the way teachers react is particularly important.
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Article details

P K Smith and Shu Shu (2000) 'What Good Schools Can Do About Bullying: findings from a survey in English schools after a decade of research and action', in, 'Childhood', Volume 7, Issue 2.
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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.
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