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18 OCTOBER 2010

NO 1642

Bullying in school

‘At school I don ’t succeed, I am daily taunted by one teacher and my mates. I feel a deep sense of failure.’

After writing this letter to his parents, on the 24th April 1987, Roberto aged 15, took his father’s gun and killed himself.

This was an Italian child, but it could have been a child anywhere. Several such tragic examples are mentioned by the contributors to this book, (including this one from Sergio Basalisco). Suicide is one outcome of bullying, although thankfully a rare one, but it is just the tip of a vast iceberg of misery experienced by millions of children every day.

Yet, as a number of the contributors point out, it has remained a hidden problem. It, like all children’s issues, only emerges onto the public arena following a dramatic case or a scandal.

Scandinavian countries provide an exception, for there bullying is part l of the public arena, but even there tragedy has played its part. Two young people took their lives in Norway in 1982 following longstanding bullying. Roland has argued that this led directly to the Norwegian Campaign Against Bullying.

Recently, cases have reached the media in the UK and have contributed to concern. Yet, media concern cannot be translated directly into action. Action requires knowledge based on research which in turn enables the concern to be translated into appropriate action.

Roland has argued that the move from thousands of isolated islands of personal grief to public action, must pass through stages of research and public concern. This process has happened in Norway, and Munthe describes the current state of Norwegian knowledge. In many other countries the problem has been, until recently, all but imperceptible to the scientific community, as Viera da Fonseca argues in her chapter. Such research as there is has been largely generated by the activity of individual concerned practitioners and a few academics. Mona O’Moore provides an overview of these efforts in the UK and Ireland.

As Nick de Kruif points out, in Holland the interest dates largely from a book published by van der Meer in 1988. Following that, a flood of interest has emerged. But that flood of interest has also brought forth a flood of ideas without a research base to support them. Thus we have those who offer the advice to Dutch victims that they should get a big dog!

The interrelationship between private concern, public grief (generated by media interest) and research-led action is a complex one. The publication in 1988, of the first UK book on the subject, (Tattum and Lane, 1988, Trentham Books) produced extensive media interest. Yet that interest could not have been possible except for the background of tragic cases, such as those referred to by Elliott.

The way the media handled the first UK book provides an example of positive action. Several thoughtful articles have appeared and radio and TV stations have covered the material, but have had to ask the questions, how should we cover this material? What should we do next? The ‘next’ in some cases has included advice phones, resource ‘factfiles’ , and follow up programming. Some serious attempts have been made to move beyond the immediate newsworthy story. It is to be hoped that the interest does not now just fade away. This pattern also marked much of the Norwegian coverage.

The time is right, therefore, for this previously unrecognised problem to move from the stage of private grief to the public agenda. To create an effective public agenda, requires a knowledge base. Given the international nature of this problem the lessons that can be learned should be shared. It is in that context that this book appears.

It is no coincidence that the first European conference on Bullying took place in Norway. That conference, (in 1987) sponsored by the Council of Europe, brought together individuals from twelve countries. Delegates agreed to go away and undertake further work and share information. This book is in part an outcome of that process. The original papers in this volume look at the emerging international knowledge base and alternative approaches to action that are beginning to happen.

DAVID A. LANE

Lane, D.A. (1989). Foreword: Bullying in school: The need for an international approach. In Erling Roland and Elaine Munthe (Eds.) Bullying: An international perspective. London. David Fulton Publishers. pp. x.

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