Children’s Ombudsman Launches Bullying Report

Children’s Ombudsman calls on the Departments of Education & Health to work together to ensure bullying is treated as a public health issue

Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, has called on the Government to build on the ongoing work of the Department of Education by including the Department of Health in the development of an anti-bullying strategy in order to ensure that bullying is addressed as a public health issues rather than one confined to the sphere of education. The Ombudsman for Children made her comments at the launch of a report undertaken by her office on bullying in schools.

The Ombudsman for Children’s Office consulted with over 300 children and young people from the ages of 10 to 17 from diverse geographical and social backgrounds, including children with disabilities, children in care and LGBT children. The children and young people shared their views on how to prevent as well as tackle bullying.

Emily Logan said: “It is clear from this consultation that children and young people share the concerns of adults about bullying. They told us that they wanted to feel they could make a significant contribution to dealing effectively with bullying in schools. Taken together, the viewpoints shared by children and young people suggest that work with and by schools in this area could benefit from a two-strand approach comprising of prevention and intervention strategies. The children and young people placed particular emphasis on preventive work especially on initiatives dedicated to raising awareness of bullying as well as programmes focused on tackling the discriminatory attitudes that can give rise to bullying. They also said it was important to develop children’s appreciation of and respect for diversity.”

The consultation was initiated in light of concerns about bullying that have been raised with the Office by children, parents and professionals through the complaints and investigations function. Bullying represents a significant proportion of education based complaints received by the Office annually. The consultation was undertaken in accordance with the Ombudsman for Children’s obligations under Section 7 of the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002 to consult with children and to highlight issues relating to their rights and welfare that are of concern to children themselves.

Emily Logan added: “Through our complaints handling my Office is aware of a range of issues that can inhibit schools’ ability to handle incidents of bullying. Among these are the fact that bullying can often occur in places that are hidden from view and that, in some cases, its underlying causes can concern prejudicial attitudes such as homophobia that may not be openly discussed and challenged in schools. Furthermore, bullying can be symptomatic of factors arising in a child’s life outside of school, including at home, in the community and in the wider society. Although schools certainly have an important role to play in the prevention of bullying and intervening when incidents of bullying arise, work to combat the phenomenon of bullying, and its underlying causes, responsibility must be taken and shared appropriately across the education system and I believe in the wider sphere of public health with an emphasis on positive mental health.”

The Ombudsman for Children concluded: “A very interesting message to emerge from the consultation workshops was the broadly shared view among children and young people that incidents of bullying should be most appropriately and effectively dealt with through restorative measures. In this and other areas for action which they discussed, children and young people consistently emphasised the importance of all students being facilitated to express their views and actively participate in measures to deal with bullying. As this report illustrates, they made a wide range of concrete and creative suggestions as regards how children and young people can be encouraged and supported to take an appropriate share of responsibility for addressing the problem of bullying and, as such, for building a culture of respect for the rights and dignity of every child.”

The full report on Dealing with Bullying in Schools is available online.

• 2 Samhna 2012
• Cineál: Preaseisiúint
• Ábhar: Meabharshláinte