Dr. Seline Keating:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I will address the issue of the level of success of the 2013 anti-bullying procedures. One of the major positives is that they have created an awareness of bullying at all schools. Every school now has an anti-bullying policy. That was not the case before 2013. Rather, anti-bullying was the subject of a paragraph in the codes of behaviour of schools. That progression is a strong positive. However, elements of the procedures are not being implemented. Some schools may adopt an à la carte approach to dealing with bullying. They may not have the confidence or skill set to tackle transphobia or homophobia elements of bullying and, as such, they pick and choose which types of bullying to address. The 2013 anti-bullying policy procedures should be updated soon, rather than allowing another ten or 20 years pass before so doing. The updated procedures should provide guidelines on how to deal with homophobia and transphobia, as well as highlighting to schools the programmes that are in place to help them, such as the All Together Now programme or the Gender Equality Matters, GEM, project at European level that tackles gender-based bullying, gender-based violence and gender stereotyping. Schools should be made aware that there is support available. If pupils and parents can have confidence that a situation will be addressed, that will have a significant benefit. Pupils need to feel there is consistency.

In a case such as that highlighted by the Deputy where a parent contacts the school regarding a matter that may not involve bullying, the parent still needs to be listened to. It may be preferable to keep a record of that contact. If schools are consistent in recording all incidents, that will highlight patterns such that the school scan see at the end of a school year that cyberbullying is a significant issue that keeps coming up or identity-based bullying or racism seems to be prevalent in the school in the past year. When the issue is identified, it needs to be tackled. If a school does not record incidences of bullying or keep records of what has happened, it will not have the opportunity to see the pattern. It needs to be a mandatory component of any revised procedures that schools keep records and that there is consistency among staff. Staff should have a responsibility to keep a record of what was discussed with a parent who contacts them, as well as noting the follow-up in terms of the intervention that needed to be explored and whether it was effective. If the intervention was ineffective, there should be a consideration of what the school could do differently. There should be a consideration of the effects of implementing something but not going back to check in on all of the children involved. The school should also check in with parents and have follow-up questions for and discussions with them.