Garrett goes to the net to stamp out bullying

A NATIONAL social media campaign on the damaging effects of bullying will be developed to help students and parents cope.

A NATIONAL social media campaign on the damaging effects of bullying will be developed to help get the message across to students and parents about how to cope with the growing problem.

Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett said yesterday he would work with the states to use social media to get anti-bullying information to as "many homes as possible". Mr Garrett has commissioned his department to develop options for such a campaign.

The move followed a forum in Canberra, where experts, parents and teachers gathered to discuss how to stamp out bullying, with the key theme being the role parents and families play in coping.

Mr Garrett also announced $4 million to develop new online tool kits to help parents, teachers, trainee teachers and students deal with school bullying. The resources will be ready for the next school year.

Mr Garrett said statistics showed one in six students were bullied weekly and one in five had been a victim of cyber-bullying.

"We can't ignore the damage that school bullying inflicts," he said. "One of the main issues that emerge is the need for a national education and awareness campaign that includes all schools, reaches into as many homes as possible and really helps increase people's understanding of bullying and what they can do about it."

He said the forum also heard there was no national hub for anti-bullying resources.

"We want to develop a 'one-stop shop' so everyone knows where to go for help," he said. "The other key theme that emerged . . . was the need for every school to have a 'Safe School Plan' in place so that everyone at the school has clear, practical guidelines on how to deal with bullies and provide help and support for students experiencing bullying."

Students at Brighton Primary School, in Melbourne's southeastern suburbs, have been learning about how to deal with the cyber world -- and any bullying that comes with it -- through the state government's eSmart program.

Assistant principal Gayle Roads said that under the program, which started in 2009, pupils become "cyber-wise captains" and work with a psychologist to learn how to behave in the online world. The captains then assist other students on cyber issues and teach skills and strategies about appropriate online behaviour. "If you wouldn't do it in the real world, you don't do it online," she said of the program's motto.

Ms Roads said the initiative had been successful and the knowledge had been passed to parents as well as other schools: "It's empowering the children and makes them digital citizens."