Plans To Tackle Bullying At School.

Plans To Tackle Bullying At School.

This week minister Wiersma announced that bullying and other unwanted behavior at school will be dealt with more strictly. A reporting point will be set up and the inspection must act sooner and more firmly. Excellent plans of course, but do not forget to involve the parents.

Part of the measures is that the education inspectorate gets the opportunity to do deeper research into social safety. Schools that do not cooperate with tackling bullying will get an earlier negative rating. For example, a judgment of ‘weak school’ may follow. And if there is no improvement at all, the funding will be stopped.

Assessment

It is certainly a good idea to include the (lack of a) bullying policy in the school’s assessment. But it seems there is too little attention for the parent. Imagine your child is being bullied. You have tried everything at school but a firm approach is missing. You call the inspectorate to report it. But no feedback comes and meanwhile the bullying continues.

Safe learning environment

We often get these frustrated parents on the phone at Ouders & Onderwijs. All they want is a safe learning environment for their child. No matter how obvious this sounds, they are often sent from pillar to post.

Independent reporting point

An independent reporting point could make a difference. This way parents, students, and schools can report bullying and boundary-crossing behavior more easily. But then it is also important to keep the reporters informed about what happens with their complaint. Hopefully, this will get enough attention when the plans are developed.

Want to know more?

If you want to read more about the approach, you can find more in our knowledge base about the current approach to bullying at school. For questions, you can also call our advice point at phone number 088-6050101. Our staff is ready to help you every weekday from 9:30 am.