The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) published Safe to Learn in late September. It offers advice to teachers on how to create an anti-bullying policy including a recommendation that head teachers hand specific responsibility for anti-bullying work to a designated member of staff.
But at a CYP Now's Tackling Bullying conference last Wednesday (27 February), a number of school and local authority staff said receiving hard copies of the document would be more beneficial than having to look at it online.
Jacqui Hughes, head of educational inclusion in the children's services directorate at Salford City Council, said although she was aware of the guidance, sending hard copies to schools as a matter of course would be more beneficial.
"There's often an assumption that schools check Teachernet," she said. "Some do, but often members of staff in schools that need to access it don't. It raises an issue about how documents of this value are promoted. Implementing Safe to Learn is crucial and if we don't get it right we won't learn from it."
One teacher from an independent school in the north west said relying on teachers to download Safe to Learn did not help busy staff to get to grips with it. "Downloading more than 60 pages before you even sit down and read it isn't the best way of getting people to read such an important document," she said.
A spokeswoman for the DCSF said it had publicised the strategy on several occasions and that hard copies were available on request, the same way all guidance and teaching materials are issued to schools. "We have also asked the Anti-Bullying Alliance to disseminate the guidance for us using their dealings with schools and local authorities," she said.
"This resulted in heavy coverage around Anti-Bullying Week." She added that 11,000 hard copies of the document had been sent out to schools across England.
But Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive of charity Beatbullying, said: "Anti-bullying guidance is a valuable resource, but only if it reaches those that need it and want it."
