Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 obliges all schools to have a code of behaviour. The National Educational Welfare Board, which comes under the remit of my Department, has issued guidelines requiring each school to have policies to address bullying and schools must make it clear in their code of behaviour that bullying is unacceptable. Compliance by schools with this NEWB requirement is now inspected by the Department of Education and Skills inspectorate during whole school evaluations. The Department and the National Educational Welfare Board could not be clearer about the advice, guidelines and direction to schools in this regard. The guidelines document, which has been sent to all schools states:

The Board of Management of a school must have policies to prevent or address bullying and harassment.

Schools must make clear in their code of behaviour that bullying is unacceptable. Teachers have a professional duty of care to address bullying and the Department of Education and Science reinforces this duty in requiring schools to have anti-bullying policies.

As well as making explicit that bullying is prohibited in the school, and having an anti-bullying policy, the code of behaviour should say what action the school will take in relation to alleged breaches of the schools bullying policy. Templates and guidance on anti-bullying policies are available from the Department of Education and Science.

The anti-bullying forum will examine international practice. It is working with representatives from the NGO community as well as officials on a cross-departmental basis to develop a strong set of recommendations on how to further tackle this serious issue which affects so many children.

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