Australia: $3m to break bullys' power

Concerns about bullying will be met head-on, with principals and teachers given special training to handle physical and psychological violence in schools. The Federal Government will spend $3 million improving the training of school staff in anti-bullying techniques. This follows the launch of The Daily Telegraph's campaign to give one million NSW children an opportunity to speak out on bullying for the first time. While the State Government is encouraging schools to develop anti-bullying programs, the Commonwealth has launched a National Safe Schools scheme. Under the initiative, 179 schools around Australia, including 29 in NSW, have qualified for funding to showcase best practice anti-bullying and child abuse strategies. Inadequate teacher training has been identified as a weakness in coping with bullying, now regarded as the second-most serious issue worrying young people. The Federal Government's Safe Schools Framework will include funds for training educators in dealing with "bullying, violence and abuse".

"We will require all schools in Australia to have a safe schools framework," Education Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday. "So every school students not only feels safe and every school not only identifies bullying and other unsafe practices, but is actually involved in preventing it and dealing with it when it occurs."

Schools which have not implemented the framework by January will not get their share of $31 billion in funding over the next four years. One of Australia's foremost experts on bullying, Associate Professor Ken Rigby, agreed more needed to be done to ensure teachers were equipped to handle the issue in classrooms. "In most universities it's not an issue that they touch, which seems strange given there is so much concern expressed by governments and people," Dr Rigby said.

Dr Nelson has launched a Parliamentary inquiry into teacher training courses in public and private universities. In part the inquiry would deal with bullying and disruptive students. "Most teachers-in-training receive little instruction on dealing with bullying, violence and child abuse," he said. "Only 36 per cent of new teachers recently surveyed felt their course adequately addressed these issues. "I will be asking the new National Institute for Quality Teaching to work closely with education faculties at Australian universities to ensure they incorporate relevant best practice in this area in their teacher education programmes. "All Australians should, no matter what their circumstances, learn in a school environment that is free from bullying, harassment and abuse." Research shows one Australian child in six is bullied each week. Victims are two to three times more likely to contemplate suicide and school bullies are four times more likely to engage in criminal activity as adults.

Bruce McDougall
1 March 2005

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=2738188

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