Mr. Damian White:

Homophobic and transphobic bullying have probably come to the fore relatively recently. Perhaps they always existed but they have become more evident recently. There might be a development of older forms of bullying, such as slagging people off because of the clothes they wear or their fashion sense. They may be slagged off where their appearance, lunch or whatever indicates very evident poverty. These kinds of things have moved on but old-fashioned bullying is encountered and must be dealt with at school.

It is an ever-changing scene. As teachers, we have to keep up with it. We have called for continuing professional development, CPD, so that all teachers would be able to recognise it when those kinds of bullying incidents happen. I think someone said earlier that teachers are not always aware of what is going on with social media and so on. Through CPD, which we could all get on a reasonably regular basis, we would be able to notice and stop something in its infancy. I think that would help.

The Deputy mentioned emotional support and therapeutic services. A pilot is always a great way of getting a snapshot of how things can roll out. Many different agencies have operated pilots, including the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and various other bodies. They give a snapshot. One can see what things would be like if they were applied on a broader scale. I welcome the support of this committee for emotional and therapeutic supports. The sooner a pilot could be put in place, the better.

I would encourage people to look at things from a primary school's point of view. Obviously, there are many small schools and, therefore, things apply slightly differently. However, in the parish where I live, we have six small schools, all with teaching principals. The word “bespoke” has been used a lot here. Perhaps something bespoke to that kind of situation could be developed in order to see how one could apply those kinds of supports across a range of small schools. A number of different solutions are probably necessary. I would certainly love to see a pilot, because we can learn much in a year with a pilot, and a year is a short enough time.