Bullying is an emotive issue. Knowing that it hurts children, adultsquite rightly feel a powerful impulse to do something about it. Intaking action it is important to recognise that bullying is a complexproblem, which requires thoughtful and well-planned responses.
For anti-bullying work to be effective it is vital for children's voicesto be heard. We must move beyond simply listening to the experiences ofchildren and young people, to seeking their advice and activeinvolvement in stopping bullying. All the evidence shows that childrenand young people need to negotiate and own anti-bullying strategies.
There are three key areas that the select committee should beconsidering: prevention, response and longer term support. Firstly, thismeans looking at how we can develop strategies to prevent bullying byinvolving the whole school and creating a culture in which it isunderstood that bullying is unacceptable. Secondly, it means exploringways of responding to specific incidents - making sure the person beingbullied is safe and demonstrating a clear commitment to tacklingbullying, using rewards and sanctions as appropriate.
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