Bullying, violence a scourge in Australian schools

Since Charlotte’s parents went public with their 12-year-old daughter’s suicide last month, the issue of bullying in NSW schools has come under unprecedented scrutiny as parents, schools and students confront the reality that tormentors are more disorderly than ever.

Bullying has been growing like a cancer in schools for years. A Programme for International Student Assessment report released last May estimated teenagers in every Australian state and territory experienced disruptive maths classrooms and bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, and the Australian government’s Bullying, No Way! campaign found one in four students in years 4 to 9 reported being bullied every few weeks or more often, while one in five young students reported experiencing online bullying in any one year.

Charlotte’s funeral was held last Friday, with her parents reiterating they had raised the issue of bullying with her school, Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, several times. For its part, a school spokesperson said their claims were new or inconsistent with records. Experts say suicide is complex and is rarely attributable to a single factor. Common risk factors for youth suicide are a mental health condition or a physical disability, but bullying, family problems and grief are also risk factors.

Family and friends wear pink at Charlotte’s funeral. Credit: Janie Barrett

Of course, bullying affects both public and private school systems. But so far, only private schools have had the temerity to insist parents pay a full term’s fees if they withdraw their children due to fears they had become victims of bullying. Further, the Herald’s chief reporter Jordan Baker found some schools were also demanding parents sign non-disclosure agreements to protect the school’s reputation.

The twisted reality that some schools seek to impose such legal provisions on parents wanting to remove their children from a dangerous environment – something that the schools themselves had presumably played a considerable part in creating – surely puts money and marketability above duty of care.

But bullying has created another monster that has placed both schools and parents at loggerheads. On one hand, parents of victims at private schools are being asked to pay and sign nondisclosure agreements to rescue their children. On the other hand, the parents of students accused of bullying meet with school authorities armed with lawyers.

Schools are caught whatever way they turn. But recourse to legal documents and legal representation to protect their own rights and privileges over those of the students under their care are regrettable developments, and anti-education. They conveniently seem to forget school students in NSW are already worse off when it comes to being the victims of bullying. Such behaviour is not tolerated at workplaces, nor should it be in classrooms or playgrounds of NSW.

Like workplaces, schools need to take more responsibility for student safety. But parents cannot simply leave it up to the schools to do the hard lifting. Tellingly, the Bullying, No Way! campaign found students told parents about bullying rather than anyone else. Parents should never forget they are the true bulwark against schoolyard bullies.

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