Sam's Story: Listening to children and young people’s experiences of bullying in Wales

It was 2003 when the first Children’s Commissioner, Peter Clarke, spoke in his Annual Report and Accounts about how ‘bullying is a subject that almost
always comes up during my conversations with children and young people’. That year, the then Welsh Assembly Government introduced ‘Respecting Others’, guidance which aimed to provide information on tackling bullying in schools.

Fourteen years on, as the current post holder, thousands of children and young people have identified bullying as their top priority for me (What Next’, 2016). This autumn, the Welsh Government is due to review its ‘Respecting Others’ guidance, for the first time. To help inform that process, and to help deliver on my commitment from my three year plan for children and young people to ensure contemporary experiences of bullying are better understood and more schools are tackling and preventing bullying more effectively, I decided to undertake a large scale consultation of children’s experiences of bullying in 2016. This work involved young people in primary and secondary schools and in community settings across the country, exploring with over two thousand of them their feelings and experiences of bullying.

The results are all too familiar. Being different and being isolated are major factors behind why children are being bullied. Children told us how bystanders and witnesses to the bullying are often portrayed as being unsure what to do or as being pulled in different directions. By far the most common positive resolution to bullying was to tell a trusted adult, mainly teachers – strong direct action by schools is seen by children as very important. Unsurprisingly, cyberbullying is a big issue, particularly in secondary schools, and is seen as a highly invasive form of bullying.

It is clear that there are continuing themes and some changes since my predecessor surveyed children and parents in 2005. Children still express strong concerns about the impact of bullying and still state that they wish to tell a trusted adult to try to resolve the situation. Children still identify the role of the witness or bystander as being crucial. It is now commonplace for schools to have anti-bullying policies.

In 2005, the majority of respondents said their school did not have an anti-bullying policy. While we heard about and witnessed some excellent practices in contemporary schools, it is clear that bullying is still a widespread concern for children in 2017. Children, their parents, teachers and other school staff need the skills to prevent and tackle bullying when it occurs in every school in Wales. We are at a critical time in relation to education in Wales, with the reform of the curriculum well underway and the long-standing guidance on bullying finally under review. The purpose of this report is to highlight the real impact that being bullied is still having on children’s lives in 21st century Wales. All schools should be enabled to have in place a preventative whole-school approach that teaches children good relationship and conflict resolution skills from an early age, plus clear strategies for recognising and tackling bullying when it occurs. and to ensure that these strong messages play a part in shaping the new curriculum, teacher training and the reform of antibullying guidance.

From what children have shared with me, there is absolutely no doubt that bullying can have a devastating impact on a child’s life. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children have human rights to be safe, to survive and thrive, to receive an education, be listened to and fulfil their potential. Bullying is an age-old problem but I believe that we have the means and the motivation to prevent and tackle it in 21st century Wales. All schools should be enabled to have in place a preventative wholeschool approach that teaches children good relationship and conflict resolution skills from an early age, plus clear strategies for recognising and tackling bullying when it occurs. We have a real opportunity now to listen and to act on these powerful experiences, and I hope that all who read this report will feel motivated to do so.