Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 250: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of incidents of bullying between pupils and verbal and physical abuse of school staff by pupils that were recorded in schools in each of the past 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22210/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There is no requirement for local school authorities to report incidents or allegations of bullying or of verbal or physical abuse of school staff to my Department, nor do I believe that this should be the case. Under the Education Act 1998, legally, all schools are managed, on behalf of the school Patron or Trustees, by school Boards of Management who employ the teachers at the school. Whereas I, as Minister for Education and Science provide funding and policy direction for schools, neither I, as Minister, or my Department have the power to instruct schools to follow a particular course or direction with regards to individual complaint cases, other than in relation to appeals taken against refusal to enrol, suspension, or expulsion, under Section 29 of the Education Act.

In relation to incidents of verbal and physical abuse of school staff, Section 23 of the Education Welfare Act 2000 requires all schools to have in place a Code of Behaviour. To assist schools in formulating such a code, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) has developed guidelines for schools on Codes of Behaviour. Each Board of Management is responsible for formulating a fair and efficient Code of Behaviour, which should include provisions for dealing with serious breaches of discipline and outlining the school's policy and procedures on suspension and expulsion. It is the responsibility of each school Board of Management to ensure that students are in accordance with its code of behaviour and to take action against students who are in breach of this code. Such incidents are not reported to my Department, other than where a student may have been suspended or expelled and wishes to appeal this decision under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998.

Responsibility for tackling bullying falls to the level of the individual school, as it is at local level that an effective anti-bullying climate must be established and at that level that actions should be taken to address allegations of bullying. My Department does, however, receive a number of complaints and queries directly from parents regarding matters such as bullying, involving schools. It important to highlight that in many instances, parents may be seeking guidance from the Department on how to resolve an issue or an alleged incident within a school.

In dealing with complaints the Department's role is to provide advice to parents and students on the operation of schools' complaints procedures and to clarify for parents and pupils how grievances and complaints against schools can be progressed. In 2009 a total of 438 telephone or written complaints/queries were received from parents regarding bullying in schools. To the end of April 2010 a total of 160 telephone or written complaints/queries have been received from parents regarding bullying in schools. It should be noted that as the term bullying can be difficult to define prescriptively, complaints/queries logged under the category of bullying are done so based on the terminology used by the parent, as opposed to any judgement applied by staff as to the nature of the complaint.

I am anxious to support schools in tackling bullying and it is for that reason that a number supports have been put in place in recent years to assist schools in dealing with this important issue. The Board of Management of each school is required to prepare a code of behaviour in accordance with Section 23 of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000. To assist schools in formulating such a code, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) has developed guidelines for schools on Codes of Behaviour. My Department further requires each school to have in place a policy which includes specific measures to deal with bullying behaviour, within the framework of an overall school code of behaviour and discipline. Such a code, developed through consultation with the whole school community and properly implemented, can be the most influential measure in countering bullying behaviour in schools.

The education of students in both primary and post-primary schools in relation to anti-bullying behaviour is part of the SPHE curriculum. SPHE is now a compulsory subject both at primary level and in the junior cycle of post-primary schools. My Department has also issued guidelines as an aid to schools in devising measures to prevent and deal with instances of bullying behaviour and to increase awareness among school management authorities of their responsibilities in this regard. These guidelines were drawn up following consultation with representatives of school management, teachers and parents, and are sufficiently flexible to allow each school authority to adapt them to suit the particular needs of their school.

My Department has additionally published policy templates for post-primary schools in five key areas, including anti-bullying on its website of as part of our ongoing efforts in this regard. The template documents are not prescriptive, but rather highlight possible approaches and potential material for inclusion in school policies. The anti-bullying policy template is based primarily on the key document Guidelines on Countering Bullying Behaviour. However, it does take account of more recent legislative and regulatory changes, and reference is also made to issues of contemporary concern such as the need to tackle text bullying, cyber-bullying and homophobic bullying.