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The perception of parents is that schools aren't doing enough to combat bullying, but the Education President has said improvements are being delivered with more measures on the way.
Deputy Lester Queripel submitted written parliamentary questions to ESC, querying its approach to bullying in schools considering recent Express stories on survey data highlighting an increase in reported incidents, and the National Education Union calling on the States for better support for vulnerable students.
Education President, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen was keen to separate behaviour from bullying, saying some students who have difficulty regulating their emotions doesn’t always lead to instances of bullying.
She said behaviour is taken seriously to allow schools to be calm places, and monitoring takes place by a series of boards, the government and external inspector Ofsted.
“Ofsted’s inspections overwhelmingly report that bullying in our schools and settings is rare and, where it does happen, it is dealt with quickly and effectively,” Deputy Dudley-Owen said.
But she admitted that despite the efforts of the States, parents’ views are still that the school response bullying is “not yet good enough”.
“The Education Office continues to work with schools and settings to monitor incidents of bullying to allow us to continue to assess the effectiveness of the strategies in place,” she added.
Pictured: Deputy Lester Queripel.
Deputy Dudley-Owen said a multi-agency response is required with educationalists and teachers not always able to address the underlying issues, which include upbringing, access to vapes, alcohol and drugs, and inappropriate use of social media.
“It cannot be the job of government alone to deal with all of these problems without the support of families and the wider community... Schools can respond to the symptoms, but addressing root causes can be difficult without support from agencies and parents/carers.
All schools evaluated so far by the Office for Standards in Education have judged behaviour to be good, with two schools that fell short of that assessment – St Sampsons High and Les Voies - have since had follow-up assessment and found “effective progress”.
Full re-inspection's are due to take place at these schools later in 2024.
“We are confident that this will give the community reassurance that behaviour at these two schools has significantly improved. Survey data corroborates this and shows that in these two schools, lesson disruption is very rare. This is further reinforced through school visits by Education Development Officers,” Deputy Dudley-Owen added.
Assessments for public primary schools also found “wall above average” scores for behaviour, and reinforces the view of education leaders that it’s “an area of significant strength” in the system.
“Addressing behaviour concerns is a top priority for school leadership teams where the survey feedback identified any issues and, in these cases, schools are working relentlessly to improve.”
More training is planned to roll out from the next school year for teachers to help them assist the emotional, social and mental health needs of children.
At the start of the last school year all secondary schools worked together to allow access to education for some students who found learning in the ordinary setting challenging.
ESC says it’s incorporated national initiatives to respond to bullying in schools to address issues raised by parents and youngsters.
She also highlighted that the Youth Forum survey in 2023 showed a reduction in self-reporting of bullying compared to the Young People’s Survey a year before, down to 9% of respondents from 33%.
You can read the full response HERE.
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