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- Education,General,Student Health,Wellbeing
The national definition of bullying for Australian schools says:
Bullying is an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening.
Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time (for example, through sharing of digital records).
Bullying of any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders. Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.
Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:
- mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
- not liking someone or a single act of social rejection
- one-off acts of meanness or spite
- isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.
However, these conflicts still need to be addressed and resolved.
Likewise not all online issues are bullying. (Online bullying is sometimes referred to as cyberbullying and refers to bullying that is carried out through information and communication technologies.)
Parents and carers have a key role in preventing and responding to bullying.
Understanding the definition of bullying is the first step in talking about how to prevent and respond to bullying with your child. ‘Bullying’ is a word that is used for behaviours that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours can be just as serious but may require different responses.
School responses to reports of bullyings can be much more effective when parents and carers report bullying and support school staff efforts to respond to it.
If your child reports that bullying is occurring at school, or the bullying is occurring outside school hours and involves students from the school, you should let the school know about the situation.
Working together with the school is the best way to help your child resolve bullying issues.
We will work with you to resolve the situation and will also work with the other student’s parents. Due to privacy laws, they will not be able to share information about any other students involved.
This podcast with Professor James Scott External link, a clinical child and youth psychiatrist, and the head of the Child and Youth Research Group at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland, discusses the signs your teenager may be experiencing bullying, how to start the conversation with them and how you can approach the school to resolve the issues.