Professor James O'Higgins Norman:

I suppose, fundamentally, bullying is an absence of care. If there are people in the school system who do not feel cared for or represented, which, in a sense, makes them feel not cared for, then there is an issue for us to address. Sometimes we need to name a specific identity or type of bullying in order to make sure those people feel included and cared for. The overall point is that if we can have more kindness in schools and we can have that modelled by teachers, parents and the wider community, then bullying would decrease and we would not need to be so concerned about specific identities. However, those identities have a whole political agenda behind them in society. There is a concern that we will get lost in all of that, but at the heart of it is the need to have more care and more kindness in schools. If we have that, then the individual identity should not be as much of an issue as the overall experience of being included and feeling cared for.