Fear in the classroom

Simon Knight April 1998

Bullying is the education taking point for the 90's. It seems to have replaced 'cuts' as the chief concern of professionals working with children. Being a youth worker in a school where I am asked to work with more bullies and bullied than ever before it strikes me that any pupils who actually survive would seem to be doing better than most.

Statisticians would say that the profile bullying gets is warranted. In 1994 a study by Sheffield University found that, in Britain, ten per cent of primary and four per cent of secondary children are bullied once a week. Kidscape quote a figure of 68 per cent of children questioned raising it as a problem and Childline say it is the most frequent concern talked about by their callers. But a glance at the new definitions of bullying puts these alarming figures into a different context.

There can be little doubt that some children systematically and repeatedly persecute children unequal to themselves. This can be violent and children experiencing this type of harm can have serious effects. Today however, definitions of bullying are so wide that they have become meaningless. Kidscape include sarcasm, teasing and spreading rumours as well as physical violence in their definition. While being, "deliberately unfriendly" and "sending someone to Coventry", are referred to by BBC Education in their pamphlet to accompany the ' Bullying: a Survival Guide' series.

Young people that I work with tell me that they do not like being called names or ignored. But when these common unpleasant aspects of growing up are conflated with more serious behaviour, it makes a mockery of real tragedies and can only serve to cause unnecessary concern for professionals and worry amongst children.

The exaggerated seriousness of bullying, the problem, has given bullying, the issue, a real existence with practical implications. Parents worry that the school they choose for their children is going to be a 'safe school', so they look for proof. Consequently schools have to sell themselves to parents through prominent anti-bullying policies, being mindful of the fallout that can be generated by the high profile incidents of bullying . A visit by 'the Inspectorate' or a newsworthy court case by an unhappy parent can be a real turnoff. Further more, the blossoming number of counselling agencies such as Parentline, Childline, Careline, or the National Child Protection Helpline concern themselves with the emotional scars that may persist long into adult life.

Here we have a vicious circle of fear, where having a comprehensive anti-bullying policy is the only way to prove your school is a responsible school. But where does this leave teachers and pupils in their day to day lives?

Policies may generate reassurance but they also prescribe responses and thus overrule professional judgement. Teachers are increasingly finding themselves having to intervene in pupil conflict that in the past would have been allowed to run it's natural course. A trivial incident, that may feel like the end of the world to a pupil, once reported, now has to be acted on. Thus teachers find themselves deferring to the incomplete and partial experiences of children. In this situation, everyday rough and tumble occupies teacher's time to the extent that serious cases can get lost in the queue.

Many of the anti-bullying strategies increase the amount of supervision that children are under during what should be their free time. Unrestricted and unsupervised peer interaction is important for the development of all children. It is a further aspect of the increasing personal responsibility, which we already recognise as important by transferring children from primary to secondary schooling.

Moving on allows young people to start taking initiative in their learning. Exploring, experimenting, taking decisions and making mistakes all contribute to growing up. Adult interventions in the form of conflict resolution may be well intentioned but it stifles the learning process. Even by just being there a teacher affects the outcome and relationships play themselves out differently.

The young people that I work with act very differently when I am around. I can ensure that no one gets picked on or hurt but this hardly prepares them for a time when they will have to run their own relationships. How can children develop an understanding of their own and other people's emotions without ever experiencing unfettered conflict or kindness? We may be able to give pointers but social skills can't be taught or enforced they can only be learned by children experiencing things for themselves.

Could the over zealous nature of our urge to protect children actually be making their world a more dangerous place? An unhappy child is never a pretty sight but a child that never learns how to cope with or resolve conflict is going to have real problems in later life. There isn't always going to be a third party there to turn to. Not being able to resolve problems for themselves is going to be much more of a hindrance for this generation than a few unpleasant moments during a period that for most remains as 'the best days of your life'.