I have posted a brief summary of the results of a survey carried out earlier this year - I will be posting a lengthier blog in the not too distant future discussing the findings in greater depth but for now at least - here is a quick snapshot of what children and young people told us
The research
The primary aim of this piece of research was to obtain a
picture of how children and young people are experiencing bullying in Scotland
in 2014.
This research was designed to:
·
Identify the types of bullying that is
experienced by children and young people.
·
Give a clear picture of where bullying happens
and where online and offline/face to face experiences differ or crossover.
·
Identify from children and young people’s own
experience what they feel works and what is less helpful.
·
Identify where children and young people go
online and what technology they use to get there.
An online questionnaire was designed and tested and
distributed to all schools in Scotland in May and June 2014. In total, there were 8310 responses, of which
7839 were useable. Responses came from all over Scotland with all 32 Local
Authorities represented. Respondents were aged between 8 and 19 years old.
Sixty five per cent were 12 - 14 years old.
This was an open
survey and the findings presented here represent only the views of the children
who took part.
Three focus
groups took place with 45 young people to get a more detailed insight into
children and young people’s experiences of bullying – in particular, their
thoughts on what happens online and in person, where these two are different
and where they crossover.
Key findings
The key
findings from the survey are as follows:
- 30%
of children and young people surveyed reported that they have experienced
some sort of bullying behaviour between the start of school in August 2013
and June 2014. Of this 30%:
§
49% experienced bullying in person
§
41% experienced bullying both in person and online
§
10% experienced bullying online only.
- A
number of children and young people had more than one experience of
bullying. Children and young people surveyed reflected 12,003 experiences
of bullying behaviours. Of these experiences: -
§
60% took place in person
§
21% took place both in person and online
§
19% took place online only
- 92% of children and young people who were bullied knew the
person bullying them (91% online and 92% offline). Anonymity therefore may
not be what is driving bullying online.
·
Behaviours such as name calling, hurtful comments and spreading rumours
that make people feel angry, sad and upset happen both face to face and online.
·
Children and Young people employ a range of strategies to cope with
bullying; some are more successful than others.
§
Almost half (48%) of children and young people who are bullied tell
their parents.
§
Friends and teachers are also providing support to a high number of children
and young people who are bullied.
·
The most successful anti-bullying interventions are embedded
within a positive ethos and culture and don’t just focus on individual
incidents.
- Children and
young people’s use of technology, especially mobile technology and social
media, is woven into their everyday lives.
- The
majority of children and young people (81%) consider their online friends
to be all or mostly the same friends they have in real life
- Children and
young people access internet content on mobile devices, such as phones and
tablets, more than other devices such as
PC’s or laptops.
- Google,
YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are the most popular websites and Apps used by children and young people
when they go online.
Next Steps
We will further
analyse the data we have collected and use it to help develop effective policy and
practice around bullying. The data is likely to help us to address some
questions more effectively including: -
·
Given the relatively low proportion of exclusively
online bullying, and the similarity of online and offline bullying behaviour,
to what extent is a specific response to online bullying needed?
·
What are the appropriate responses to gender
specific differences in experiences of bullying?
·
How can we help schools to further develop an anti-bullying
ethos? And how can we continue to ensure children and young people are involved
and included in this process?
·
How can we continue to support parents to
respond when their children tell them about being bullied?
·
How can schools further help children and young
people learn from other pupils about the strategies that they have found useful?
