Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Secondary school pupils share their views on bullying.
A survey of over 35,000 secondary school pupils in England reveals the extent of bullying and the emotional harm it causes.
The NfER has collated the results of pupil surveys it has conducted in over 100 secondary schools since 2010 to give a national picture of pupil views and attitudes. The views of 35,000 pupils from years7-13 (aged 11-18) were recorded in the surveys, with questions on a range of issues.
The first research report exploring the findings as a national set was published under the following title, in November 2011 and focuses on bullying.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but being left on my own is worse: an analysis of reported bullying at school within NFER attitude surveys. Benton T. (2011). NFER.
Children were asked questions about the types of bullying they had experienced over the last 12 months and why they think they may have been bullied.
Pupils recorded whether they have been bullied by people from their school in the last twelve months, in any of the following ways:
- Verbal (name calling, spreading rumours, threatened)
- Physical (being hit or kicked)
- Being left out
- Having property stolen or damaged
- Racism
- Unwanted sexual contact
- Cyber bullying (mobile phone, internet, email)
Overall forty-four per cent of pupils indicated that they had been bullied in at least one of the above ways. Verbal Bullying was the most common form of bullying experienced by both girls and boys with over 1/3 of those aged 11-15 reporting being a victim of it at some time. Boys are twice as likely as girls to experience physical bullying in every year group. Girls in the earlier years of secondary school are more likely to experience being left out than boys.
The analysis found the chance of being bullied remained very similar as children progressed through secondary school until reaching sixth form (age 16) where it dropped for all types, except unwanted sexual contact which increased for boys and girls and cyber bulling which increased for boys.
In a second strand the report analyses the explanations pupils gave for why they had been bullied. Pupils who reported being bullied in the last twelve months were asked if they knew the reason they had been bullied.
“I have been bullied in the past 12 months because”:
- Of how I speak
- Of how I look/my appearance
- Of my name
- Of how I act/my personality
- People think I am gay, lesbian or bisexual
- My family doesn't have the money to buy new things
- Of my friends/family
- Of my religion
- Of my disability or health
- People are jealous of me
- Of lies or rumours about me
- I don't know why
From the list, the most common reason that victims gave for why they think had been bullied was “lies or rumours” and “how I look” each of which were reported by 43 per cent of those who had been bullied. A very large percentage of pupils (35 per cent) reported that they “didn't know” why they were bullied and nearly as many (34 per cent) thought they were bullied because of “how I act”. The majority of those who were bullied (62 per cent) listed more than one reason behind the bullying.
A third strand of the research report considers the impact of bullying on emotional well-being. The research concludes that although all forms of bullying have a negative emotional impact the type of bullying that is most strongly associated with low emotional well being is “being left out, “ the strength of the association between “being left out” and low emotional wellbeing cannot be escaped and clearly suggests that this type of bullying is a serious issue.” The emotional impact was slightly higher for boys than girls, although it was more common for girls to experience this type of bullying.
The form of bullying most commonly experienced by 11-18 year olds after “being left out”, verbal abuse had the second highest impact on emotional well-being (more than physical abuse) for both genders.
One key finding of the report is the type of bullying which has the biggest impact on children, “being left out”, is the type that is often seen as least significant by schools, teachers and parents. “Adults may perceive it as less serious and something children will sort out themselves”. This “low-level” bullying is often given less prominence in anti-bullying strategies and is less likely to be reported to schools by parents.
In conclusion, the report argues “tackling the social rejection of some young people by others is a much more difficult task than the (already not insignificant) challenge of dealing with explicit bullying. However, the startling link between social rejection and low emotional wellbeing means that it should not be ignored.”
To read the report in full click on this link.