A quarter of principals said they are seeing students physically harm others, and damage or take property at least every day. Photo / 123rf
A quarter of principals said they are seeing students physically harm others, and damage or take property at least every day. Photo / 123rf
The Chief Children’s Commissioner is calling for regular, publicly reported data about bullying in schools - as one teachers’ union highlights “blind spots” in the current approach.
Claire Achmad said bullying is something schools, communities, and the Government need to address.
“Children and young people themselves frequently tell me that they want to be involved in their education and it’s important to them, but because of feeling unsafe due to the bullying they experience in their schools, it’s a big barrier.”
A report published by the Education Review Office last year, called for classroom behaviour to become a priority and a more “national approach” to worsening behaviour.
A quarter of principals said they are seeing students physically harm others, and damage or take property at least every day.
But the Ministry of Education says it has no plans to introduce reporting requirements for schools relating to bullying.
It supports schools to develop bullying prevention and response approaches that work for them and their communities.
School boards are also required to ensure schools are a physically and emotionally safe place for all students and staff, and take all reasonable steps to eliminate racism, stigma, bullying, and any other forms of discrimination within the school.
Spokesperson Sean Teddy said “it is not mandatory for schools to report bullying to the ministry, nor are there plans to introduce reporting requirements for schools in relation to bullying”.
Achmad said it’s important that the ministry continues proactive supports to schools to help them develop safe and caring environments.
“Alongside this, I am keen to see regular, publicly reported data about bullying in schools, so we can continue to understand the scale and nature of the problem for children and young people,” she said.
“I look forward to discussing this with the Ministry of Education.”
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie admits there’s some “blind spots” in the current approach to bullying.
He said focusing on preventing bullying could be the way to boost attendance.
“There’s often never one reason for absence. These students who we’re talking about, there’s lots of things going on in their life. So bullying could be absolutely part of it.”
Abercrombie said there’s no real national plan to tackle bullying currently, as it’s left up to individual schools.
“There is this programme called, ‘positive behaviour for learning’ that has seen some really good results but again, it’s not really being supported,” he said.
“The funding’s been cut over the years, and so it’s a real concern that it’s left up to individual schools to manage this.”
“We know there’s a significant amount of unmet need in our schools around mental health, [and] other areas, so schools are scrambling to try to put together plans to support these young people, but there’s 2500 self-governing schools each approaching it differently.”
He believes a definition of bullying would need to be agreed on - if national reporting was introduced.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says he recognises bullying is a barrier to student attendance.
Associate Minister Education David Seymour announced a new strategy for lifting New Zealand's school attendance rates last year. Photo / Marty Melville
A new data portal showing daily school attendance figures was launched last year.
Seymour said absence could be driven by bullying, in some cases.
“The most recent ERO report into chronic absence found that the students who were interviewed were most likely to identify schooling factors, including bullying, as barriers to attendance.
“Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the ministry, which would consider bullying,” Seymour said.
Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. Jaime joined Newstalk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.
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