Media release

16 March 2009

Bullying major concern for school children

The recent report School safety: An inquiry into the safety of students at school, released by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner yesterday, and to be presented at a Ministry of Education summit in Wellington today, shows that bullying in our schools is a major problem for children.

“That school children in New Zealand are exposed to bullying is not new. Bullying has been identified as one of the major issues facing children and young people, parents, educators and the community at large for many years now. Between 2001 and 2007 calls to 0800WHATSUP about bullying showed a rising trend, with the severity of bullying increasing. The last two years have shown a flattening of that trend and some signs of reduction in severity but there is no room for complacency”, says Grant Taylor, Executive Director of What’s Up.

“In the school setting, young people experience bullying as a frequent challenge. It is important to counter the view that bullying is an inevitable part of school life. Schools and the wider community both must take the responsibility for making it clear that bullying is an act of violence and will not be tolerated in our society. Schools have an obligation to ensure they are a safe place for all students, and the OCC report identifies a number of ways they can achieve this, such as introducing effective policies and procedures and implementing whole school approaches and violence prevention programmes”, concludes Mr Taylor.

What’s Up receives in average 10,000 calls per week but is only able to answer about 27% of these calls. In order to meet the high demand, What’s Up needs more funding and donations. People can donate by visiting www.whatsup.co.nz or call the What’s Up office on (09) 630 4144.

ENDS

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