AUSTRALIA’S APPROACH TO SCHOOL BULLYING AND VIOLENCE THE NATIONAL SAFE SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

1. AUSTRALIA’S APPROACH TO SCHOOL BULLYING AND VIOLENCETHE NATIONAL SAFE SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK

2. NATIONAL SAFE SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK • The Australian Government is committed to achieving safer, more supportive school environments • It has led the development of the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF)

3. Safe and Supportive Schools • The NSSF provides a national approach to dealing with peer victimisation and child protection issues in schools • It is guided by the vision that “all Australian schools are safe and supportive environments”

4. BACKGROUND • In Australia, the extent and impact of bullying has only recently begun to be appreciated • The Sticks and Stones report published by the Australian Parliamentary Committee on Violence in Schools (1994) concluded bullying was a major problem in schools

5. DEFINITION OF BULLYING • Repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful person or group of persons

6. CRITICAL POINTS • Power • Frequency • Intent to harm

7. HOW PERVASIVE IS SCHOOL BULLYING? • A national survey of more than 38,000 schoolchildren between 7 and 17 established that approximately one child in six was bullied by peers each week in Australian schools • In 2002, Kids Help Line received almost 6,000 calls about bullying from young people in Australia • Boys report ‘joining in’ bullying more than girls (9% compared to 5%) and secondary students are more likely to bully another child than primary school students (11% compared to 5%)

8. EFFECTS OF BULLYING AND VIOLENCE • Higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression and illness, and an increased tendency to suicide • Negative impact on educational outcomes • Also harmful to perpetrators who are more likely to have antisocial and criminal behaviour

9. ISSUES FOR THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY • Community expectations that schools should be vigilant and intervene when necessary • Legal imperatives that bind teachers • Justice – right of children to live their lives free of threat or violence • Negative impacts on educational outcomes

10. WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH • A ‘whole school approach’ is much more likely to be successful than single factor interventions

11. NATIONALLY AGREED FRAMEWORK • The National Safe Schools Framework consists of a set of nationally agreed principles for a safe and supportive school environment and includes appropriate responses which schools can adopt to address the issues of bullying, harassment, violence and child abuse, including sexual abuse and neglect.

12. VARIETY OF APPROACHES • The Framework acknowledges that no single strategy will address all potential risks and create a supportive school environment. • A co-ordinated whole-school effort is needed that draws together specific policy, practices and strategies

13. GUIDING PRINCIPLES Australian schools: • affirm the right of all school community members to feel safe at school • promote care, respect and cooperation and value diversity • implement policies, programmes and processes to nurture a safe and supportive school environment • recognise that quality leadership is an essential element that underpins the creation of a safe and supportive school environment

14. GUIDING PRINCIPLES • develop and implement policies and programmes through processes that engage the whole school community • ensure that roles and responsibilities of all members of the school community in promoting a safe and supportive environment are explicit, clearly understood and disseminated • recognise the critical importance of pre-service and ongoing professional development in creating a safe and supportive school environment

15. GUIDING PRINCIPLES • have a responsibility to provide opportunities for students to learn through the formal curriculum the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed for positive relationships • focus on policies that are proactive and oriented towards prevention and intervention • regularly monitor and evaluate their policies and programmes so that evidence-based practice supports decisions and improvements • take action to protect all children from all forms of abuse and neglect

16. SIX KEY ELEMENTS 1. School, values, ethos, culture, structures and student welfare 2. Policies, programmes and procedures 3. Education/training for school staff, students and parents 4. Managing incidents of abuse/victimisation 5. Providing support for students 6. Working closely with parents

17. IMPLEMENTATION • As a condition of Australian Government funding to schools, school authorities will be required to commit to putting the Framework into effect before 1 January 2006.

18. REPORTING • All Australian Education Ministers agreed in 2002 that the annual National Report on Schooling in Australia will provide the vehicle for public reporting on the application of the National Safe Schools Framework

19. AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SUPPORT • The Australian Government is supporting schools to implement the National Safe Schools Framework through: • $3 million for teacher professional learning to support implementation • $1 million grants project to help schools select and implement, effective, evidence-based, best practice programs to address bullying, violence and abuse • $300,000 for materials and other support to guide schools in the implementation (including an implementation manual, resource pack and additional support for schools with limited systemic support); and • $200,000 to support the Bullying. No Way! website (www.bullyingnoway.com.au)

20. THE NATIONAL SAFE SCHOOLS FRAMEWORK - AUSTRALIA The Framework is available at www.mceetya.edu.au/pdf/natsafeschools.pdf Additional information can be found at www.dest.gov.au/schools/publications/2004/index.htm