Schools wary of over-regulation on bullying issue
The parents of a Cork teenager whose suicide three years ago was linked to bullying at school claimed at the weekend that the Government should do more to tackle the problem.
Colette Wolfe, whose daughter Leanne died in March 2007, said similar action should be taken to that in Massachusetts, where Irish teenager Phoebe Prince’s suicide has prompted new laws that prohibit bullying on school property.
Education Minister Mary Coughlan has reiterated that the handling of bullying cases remains a matter to be dealt with by school authorities rather than a state role.
The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents the boards of more than half the country’s 730 second-level schools, said bullying has always been a problem, but acknowledges that new technology means greater vigilance may be needed.
“There are so many websites like Facebook, Bebo or YouTube, and new technologies like texting that were not around 10, or even five years ago, and schools certainly can’t be complacent. They need to ensure behaviour policies reflect all these things and that students, teachers and parents are constantly reminded of the rules,” said JMB general secretary Ferdia Kelly.
“There is certainly no harm in regular updates to guidelines for schools from the Department of Education or other agencies as well, but we wouldn’t be calling for any strict regulations,” he said.
Mr Kelly said schools could be better assisted to deal with bullying and behaviour problems by greater availability of resources, such as internal appointments such as year heads, guidance counsellors and other pastoral care roles.
Up to the end of April, the Department of Education received 160 complaints or queries from parents about the issues of bullying in schools, indicating roughly the same level of concern last year.
According to a Dáil response from Ms Coughlan to Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan, almost 440 such contacts were made with the department last year.
