Educational Research Vol. 42 No.

2 Summer 2000 141–156

Bullying in 25 secondary
schools: incidence, impact and
intervention
Derek Glover, Gerry Gough and Michael Johnson with Netta
Cartwright, Department of Education, Keele University, Keele,
Staffordshire

Summary

This paper outlines an investigation of the incidence and impact of physical,

verbal and property-violation bullying in 25 secondary schools within a partner-
ship operating with Keele University. The investigation also considers the impact
of antisocial behaviour on pupils and the effectiveness of intervention to secure
improved behaviour patterns. Evidence shows that in any year 75 per cent of
pupils are bullied but that severe and repeated bullying is likely to be perpetrated
and suffered by about seven per cent of pupils. Four behaviour patterns can be
identiŽ ed: bullies, bullies who are also victims, victims and non-participants, and
the link between behaviour and factors in developing self-esteem is explored. Suc-
cessful intervention requires a change of attitude on the part of both pupils and
the community, a willingness to report events, and an understanding of respect
for personal space.

Keywords: bullying, school policies, attitudes, teacher intervention

Background

Research context
This paper outlines the work undertaken by a research team from the Education
Department at Keele University and a teacher-researcher from a school in the
partnership to review the progress the schools are making in developing effective
anti-bullying policies. The aim was to ascertain the incidence of bullying behav-
iour, its impact on pupil development and the effectiveness of anti-bullying strat-
egies. The full report (Glover et al., 1997) details the responses to a questionnaire
survey used by 4,700 pupils aged 11–16 in 25 schools, together with a detailed

Address for correspondence: Professor Derek Glover, Chestnut Lodge, Palmerston

Road, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire HR9 5PJ, UK.

Educational Research ISSN 0013-1881 print/ISSN 1469-5847 online © 2000 NFER

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
142 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

examination of the policies operating in the schools and the guidelines support-
ing these. The questionnaire was based on a framework of pupil perceptions of
their relationships with peers and there was no mention of bullying as such.
Associate teachers (PGCE students) nearing the end of their courses were also
trained in interview techniques and subsequently recorded interviews with 115
pupils in 17 of the schools. This gave an opportunity for pupils to speak to adults
who were not identiŽ ed with the authority structures of the schools and who were
generally only a few years older than the pupils themselves. This enabled the
research team to understand something of the motivation of those pupils who
showed antisocial tendencies, and the perceptions of all pupils of the effective-
ness of staff intervention. This paper summarizes the main Ž ndings in a way that
invites other schools to consider the effectiveness of their own anti-bullying poli-
cies.
The existence of bullying within our schools is not doubted. Heinemann
(1972) drew attention to the practice of ‘mobbing’ within Norwegian schools and
linked this to the misery which this in icted upon victims. This led to more
detailed investigations such as those undertaken by Olweus (1978), which estab-
lished the existence of aggressive traits in some physically mature boys; and
Mykletun (1979) and Roland (1980) emphasized the link between bullying and
traits of low self-esteem, poor self-conŽ dence and below average academic ability.
Following the publication of the Elton Report, Discipline in Schools (1989), and
the identiŽ cation of bullying as an underlying factor in poor behaviour and attain-
ment for both bullies and victims, schools in the UK have become involved in
similar investigations. One of the largest of these has been the ShefŽ eld Project
undertaken in 1990–1 among pupils in 24 schools within the city (Smith and
Sharp, 1994). Continuing work is currently being undertaken by the University
of Exeter (Balding et al., 1996).
The early investigations suggested that one in ten pupils were bullied, and one
in eight did the bullying, but recent concern with broader deŽ nitions of bullying
as both physical and verbal, and the application of these in contemporary investi-
gations, suggests that the Ž gures may be twice as high. This may be because the
issues are now more openly acknowledged, as shown in the comparatively high
reporting of incidents in the school within the Keele cohort which has done most,
and over a longer period, to control antisocial behaviour. The results of the
investigation as a totality and for each school have been used by the staff of
schools to recognize, and work with, pupils in a more positive way. Progress
towards the development of anti-bullying policies has been outlined elsewhere
(Glover and Cartwright, 1998). Schwartz (1993) argues that all pupils within a
school fall into one of four categories, and the current research has worked upon
this framework to establish the focus for school action. The categories are:

1 aggressive non-victims (bullies)

2 aggressive victims (bullies who are also bullied)
3 passive victims (bullied), and
4 normative contrasts (those who neither bully or are bullied).

Boulton (1993) has undertaken extensive research to establish the changing

pattern of these behaviours during the middle school years, and Rigby and Slee
(1993) have shown how children’s attitudes to the bullies and bullied are formed.
The current research accepted that attitudes may have been developed at the time
when pupils began secondary schooling and that remediation was concerned with
Bullying in secondary schools 143

changing the attitudes of pupils, staff and parents. Much of this research work
has been concerned with the way in which pupils feel about themselves and their
situation – all contributing to feelings of security: suffering as a result of anti-
social activity threatens this security and success in school. We therefore used a
structure in the interviews which enabled us to consider the way in which context
affected pupil views of their own behaviour. The elements of this were:

• self – race, gender, age, physical and academic ability or disability, self-image
• school – size, type, organization, pastoral support, culture
• home – af uence, values, culture, attitudes
• community – values, cohesion, tensions, resources.

School strategies for handling bullying were initially based on known punitive
sanctions for the bully who was caught, but it was realized that this might exacer-
bate inter-pupil relationships in the longer term; and Arora (1991) has extended
this positive line and stresses the importance of whole-school anti-bullying poli-
cies based upon open discussion of the issues. In the sample of schools these exist
at the institutional level as formalized policy documents, recurrent themes in pas-
toral and social education, curriculum materials linked to consideration of issues
such as prejudice, tolerance and relationships, and support structures such as
reporting and counselling procedures. All schools in the sample have been moving
towards developing policies but with varying impact on the life of the pupils
(Glover and Cartwright, 1998).
There was a balanced representation of each secondary year group in the
sample, with responses from 51 per cent males and 49 per cent females consis-
tently across all year groups. The main ethnic group was white European (87 per
cent), with a main Asian subgroup of two per cent, and a total of seven per cent
from other groupings. But Ž gures may be distorted by the exclusion of the four
per cent who preferred not to respond to this question. Financial circumstances
are indicated by the fact that 11 per cent of respondents took free school meals,
and a further six per cent said that they were entitled to do so. The percentage
not entitled to free meals (83 per cent) is slightly above the national average, and
this may indicate a marginally above average standard of living, but there were
marked variations between schools and some schools in the survey are in highly
disadvantaged areas. Factors which affect the self-esteem of victims include:
height, affecting 41 per cent; weight problems, affecting 28 per cent; ability levels,
with Ž ve per cent believing that they are below average; and a range of disabili-
ties, of which poor eyesight, asthma and acne each affect over 25 per cent of the
cohort. Gender analysis shows that a feeling that they are overweight affects 22
per cent of the girls compared with 14 per cent of the boys, but in all other
respects there is no marked difference between boys and girls. The interview evi-
dence suggests that those who are victims are likely to be those who can be ‘picked
on’ for these problems.

Incidence

Antisocial behaviour
Pupils were asked to say whether they had mistreated others and whether they
had been mistreated themselves in three ways: physical, verbal and interference
144 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

with property. This is based on our widest interpretation of bullying behaviour as

an invasion of another’s personal space. The concept of physical bullying was the
easiest to investigate because pupils are inclined to remember incidents more
clearly, especially within the given time span of the current school year. However,
pupils show that the impact of verbal bullying and property violation remains
with them for a long period, especially if they were still being taught with those
who had made their life miserable at an earlier stage in their educational history.

Physical bullying
Table 1 is based upon the admitted and reported incidents of physical bullying.
This leads to a view of ‘bullies’ and ‘victims’, but there was a difference in degree;
and while any reported or admitted incident during the past school year has been
taken into account, it was also possible to suggest that serious bullying and serious
victimization occurs when more than seven of a possible 11 described incidents
are recorded by respondents. Despite the fact that this produces high numbers
involved as bullies and victims, we have selected the lowest Ž gure because it rep-
resents at least one remembered, and therefore possibly serious, incident in the
past year. From the Ž gures in the table it is also possible to identify the gender
balance of each of the groups: bullies; those who are both bullies and victims;
victims; and those who said that they were neither bully nor bullied (Figure 1).

T A B L E 1 Classification of pupil behaviour based on physical incidents

admitted or reported (n = 4,502) (percentages)

Reported Bullied One to Four to More than Total

others – three six times seven times –
never times ‘serious’

Victim – never 14.8 13.7 2.6 0.7 31.8

One to three 8.5 32.1 6.8 2.1 49.5
times
Four to six times 1.2 6.8 4.1 1.4 13.5
More than seven 0.5 1.5 1.3 1.9 5.2
times – ‘serious’
Total 25.0 54.1 14.8 6.1 100

TAB LE 2 Nature of physical bullying admitted by respondents (n = 3,386)

(percentages)

Mistreatment of others Male Female Total

Threatened with violence 40 29 35

Pushed 66 69 67
Pulled by the hair 7 17 12
Slapped 8 30 18
Punched 51 22 38
Sexual touching 11 7 9
Kicked 35 22 29
Tripped 41 28 36
Stamped on 12 5 9
Spat on 11 6 9
Made to Ž ght 19 9 15
Bullying in secondary schools 145

70
60
Bullies
50
40 Bully-victims
(%) 30 Victims
20 Neither
10
0
Male Female Overall

FIGURE 1 ClassiŽ cation of pupil social behaviour, by gender

The overwhelming tendency was for there to be some form of retaliatory

behaviour in the face of aggression and this leads to the high proportion of pupils
who have been both bully and victim in the past year. In this respect, the girls
were much less ready to strike back than the boys. There was very little difference
in the proportion of boys and girls physically bullying others, but a higher pro-
portion of girls are non-retaliatory and become victims. More girls than boys
remain on the touchlines when problems occur. The actual nature of physical
bullying is shown in Table 2 and the very high numbers of pupils reporting
pushing others may well be related to crowded conditions and incidents arising
from unintended jostling. The girls are less openly violent in their physical bul-
lying, but interview evidence suggests that when Ž ghts between girls do occur
these are very serious.
While girls are less involved than boys in physical bullying, there is a tendency
for them to be more ready to use violence in the early teenage years. Both boys
and girls report a fall in physical incidents after the end of Year 9, although there
is an increase in the number of out-of-school incidents noted in Year 10 (Figure
2). Our interview evidence is that anti-bullying policies do have an effect in school
but that the problems are often driven out of school, especially in close-knit com-
munities.

Verbal bullying
Teasing and name-calling, ‘verbal bullying’, often or very often cause distress for
24 per cent of the pupils, and sometimes for a further 28 per cent, and this seri-
ously undermines pupils’ feelings of security. Fifty-two per cent of pupils report
witnessing such incidents often or very often and interview evidence shows that
this is a feature of the pupil culture in many schools where ‘they say things as you
move up the stairs – slag, bitch, that sort of thing’, or where ‘they pick on you for

1000
800
600 Incidents
400
200
0
Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

FIGURE 2 Reported incidents of physical bullying, by year groups (n = 4,350)

146 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

some reason like your height and laugh at this even in class’. Interview evidence
and open comment both indicate that the frequent spreading of lies and rumours
has affected about 22 per cent of the respondents. Contrary to comments of staff
and interviewees who think that this is more likely to be a feature of female behav-
iour, the questionnaire evidence shows that it is rather likely to occur with males.
Exclusion from social groupings is also seen as a pernicious non-verbal behaviour
often or very often for a total of 11 per cent of respondents,with girls slightly more
at risk. The details given in Table 3 re ect the way in which responses change over
time. Interview evidence suggests that two in uences are at work: a fall-off in per-
ceived unkindness with age, and a declining willingness to admit to unhappiness.

Property damage
Besides physical and verbal bullying, there has been an apparent increase in theft
and damage to others’ property as a means of causing distress. Compared with
the 75 per cent of pupils who admitted to some physical bullying, the Ž gure here
is much lower at 20 per cent of the total of all respondents. Theft and damage is
admitted to by 28 per cent of the boys but by only 13 per cent of the girls.
However, the incidence of reported damage is much greater, with 32 per cent of
all respondents feeling that they had had property damaged, as shown in Table
4. Interview evidence suggests that there is a hard core of pupils who take or
damage property ‘because it is the only way that they can get what they want . . .
or need’. Many of those who admit to this form of bullying may be multiple
offenders who have minimized their actions when admitting to their behaviour.
In percentage terms, the numbers admitting and the numbers reporting incidents
are generally similar, except for the numbers admitting taking money – 17 per
cent say that this has occurred but only 10 per cent admit to it. As with physical
bullying where there was a ‘taboo’ on admitting sexual interference with peers, a
similar fear of criminal retribution appears to operate in property matters.
The interviews suggest that many of these incidents are connected ‘with an
attempt to be hard’ or ‘to get them to do something they might not want to do’.
While the percentages of those admitting damage are comparable, it does seem
that girls are less likely to break personal goods but more likely to do so to school
property, by ‘getting at a person without actually damaging their stuff – it isn’t
quite as bad’.

Location of bullying activity

The effectiveness of programmes within school is only as good as the degree of
staff supervision which enables pupils to report incidents and to be supported.

TAB L E 3 Age perceptions of frequent verbal bullying (n = 4,300) (percentages)

Form of Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

teasing

Others have told lies 22 25 22 22 17

Others have said 4 18 14 15 10
unkind things
Others have shut 16 12 11 9 8
me out
Bullying in secondary schools 147

TA B L E 4 Pupils reporting damage to their

property (n = 1,419)
Action %age reporting

Food taken from me 9

Schoolbag taken from me 26
Property damaged 47
School books damaged 21
Clothes taken or damaged 12
PE kit taken or damaged 9
Money demanded 17
Dinner tickets demanded 4

Once beyond staff supervision, there is a higher level of bullying activity. Randall
(1996) has demonstrated the problems which can arise when there is a clash of
culture between the school and the community it serves.
The ShefŽ eld project (Smith and Sharp, 1994) indicated that bullying activity
is generated wherever pupils are together and that the classroom, as the princi-
pal area of interaction, was not immune from this (Figure 3). This is still true,
with 21 per cent of reported physical bullying and 50 per cent of teasing occur-
ring in the classroom. Indeed, the comments from interviewees suggest that ‘the
weaker teachers are frightened of the bully in our class’, and ‘it is only when you
have strict teachers and they keep us down to work that I enjoy my lessons because
I won’t get picked on’. The experience of 45 per cent of the respondents in the
playground areas is clearly not happy in some schools,with ‘lack of teacher super-
vision’, ‘the way in which gangs can get you without anybody else seeing’ and ‘the
hard girls decide to pick on somebody and then make her life hell, but to the
outside world it looks as if a group are talking together’. While the teasing pre-
vails in the dining-room and corridors, physical bullying is much less obvious in
those areas of the school where staff supervision is more effective. Boys appear
to suffer more in the playgrounds, and girls on the school corridors, but both
boys and girls suffer similarly out of school, which is the principal location for
physical attacks. These are ‘often when the gang gets together and then waits for
you’; ‘when girls are set up to Ž ght because it is not as easy at school’; ‘when the
staff have gone back in after we have all left’; and ‘when they wait for you even
though you stay at school to do things’. It seems that teasing is less prevalent,
although still affecting one-quarter of the respondents, out of school. For pupils
at the rural schools this is obviously more of a problem on the school buses,where
‘who you are and where you live is obvious to those who want to make your life
difŽ cult’.

80
Out of school
60 Playground
40 Corridors
Dining room
20 Classroom
0
Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

FIGURE 3 Location of bullying activity, by year groups (percentages)

148 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

Motivation to harass others

The motivation to harass others, in whatever form, was explored. Both boys and
girls feel that there are rarely or never good reasons for Ž ghting in school (53 per
cent), or that the people who are picked on rarely or never deserve it (40 per cent),
but there is evidence that pupils absorb a new peer culture with the fall of 11 per
cent in the number of those who believe that picking on is never justiŽ ed between
Years 7 and 8. The factors which cause people to discriminate against others to
the point of bullying are varied and the most frequently quoted reasons included:

• personal – race and religion are more frequently cited by eight per cent of older
age-groups and males; and gender taunting is most frequent in the earlier
secondary years, again by eight per cent of males;
• socio-economic – place of residence and rich or poor background, and family
background, are consistently of limited concern; but there is evidence that
taunting relates to the way in which people dress among 17 per cent of the
older age-groups;
• school attitudes – hard-workers are attacked by boys more than girls but less so
in the older age-groups, cleverness is similarly disliked by 14 per cent until
Year 11, and learning problems and lack of sporting aptitude are deprecated
by eight per cent of boys;
• being different – motivates 10 per cent to bully, with little evidence of increased
tolerance with age; this might also be related to ‘speaking posh’, or being a new
arrival at the school, or simply to ‘the way they look’ which motivates 13 per
cent to tease in some way.

Further investigation in the narrative of the interviews suggests that the ‘other
reasons’ cited by 66 per cent of the respondents may be the most signiŽ cant. The
real cause appears to have been a rationalization of events the most common of
which were relationship problems, quoted by 63 per cent of the pupils inter-
viewed; a failure to comply with peer pressures, quoted by 14 per cent; and
‘showing that we are hard and that we can make them part of our gang’, which
affected both boys and girls in Years 9 and 10.
The effect of peer encouragement appears to in ame bullying activity. Groups
of boys are three times more likely than a single individual to in ict physical or
verbal harm on others, and girls are twice as likely to act in a group than as an
individual. Half of the incidents are caused by peers from the same year and one-
third from those in an older year. The small number of victims who are caused
problems by pupils from lower years include: ‘prefects who are baited by the
younger pupils – we had one from Year 7 who made a boy’s life misery although
he was in Year 11’; ‘the older brother of a wimp in our year’; and ‘the girls in one
form who objected because I had been with one of their boys’.
Overall, however, 59 per cent feel that the other pupils are friendly, and 51 per
cent believe that they could always or nearly always count on peer support. While
much of the interview evidence re ects the happiness of school life, 15 per cent
of comments refer at some point to the activities of gangs either in, or more com-
monly, out of school. One-Ž fth of the respondents admit to membership of these
gangs. Social exclusion, seen by one interviewee as ‘feeling that I wanted to be
with them, but knowing that if I went in, I would be expected to do things I didn’t
believe in’, is still a powerful force, and another commented that he was ‘caught
up in the gang because it was all to do with being hard and being popular with
Bullying in secondary schools 149

others, but when it got to thieving and doing criminal things, I wanted out and
that was more difŽ cult’. Membership is consistent between boys and girls but
does appear to decline after the middle secondary years. Comments indicate that
one person’s gang is another’s social milieu.

Impact

All forms of antisocial behaviour affect the lives of pupils because they cause an
infringement of other pupils’ space, and teachers’ time when incidents have to be
investigated and disruption to the teaching and learning process. The interview
evidence has given us many examples of these features but questionnaire
responses, as summarized in Table 5, show the level of misery experienced by
pupils and the impact of this on their lives. For victims these are serious prob-
lems, and for the bullies who are also victims, the feelings of injustice and low
self-esteem compound their difŽ culties.
The dynamics of victimization are shown in the following open comment:

‘The pupils mostly go around in groups of boys teasing and picking on one
person, mostly a boy until he says something or stands up and then they all
pile on him.’

The misery of continual harassment can be judged by another comment:

‘Other pupils in school take my pens and pencils and break them. They used
to throw them out of the windows . . . They put my school bag out of the
window once when it was raining and it went into a puddle. When I started
in Year 8, I spent £11 on new pens – now I hardly have any. They say if you
tell on them, they will beat you up.’

The interviews revealed that pupils know that there are a group of people who
are both victim and bully. The questionnaire data substantiate this, with 58 per
cent overall having been both bully and victim at least once in the past year. Bully
victims are four times more likely than other groups to lack a positive self-image
and three times more likely to feel insecure in school – their behaviour is both an
attempt to show strength and an admission of their unhappiness. They are four
times more likely than the other groups, including the bullies who are not victims,
to believe that people who are picked on deserve it, but they are also four times

TA B L E 5 Percentage of pupils reporting

adverse (mostly or always feel this way) impact of
antisocial activity (n = 4,500)

Impact %age response

Feel upset in school 9

Get discouraged 10
Pupils unfriendly 7
Hard to answer in class 43
Threatened in some way 27
Wish to change schools 11
150 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

more likely after the event to wish that they hadn’t mistreated others. The open
comments show a considerable degree of understanding from one school where
personal and social education places considerable emphasis on behaviour
management:

‘Most of the people who bully are people who are not as good as someone
at something . . . this induces a feeling of anger in the person who lashes out
physically or verbally due to their insecurity. This can probably never be pre-
vented because you always get people who are better at things than others,
and you will always get people who feel that the only way to get some recog-
nition is to make fun of others. Some people, however, bully because they
have been bullied. This revenge can cause a vicious circle.’

Intervention

The questionnaire gave some pupils’ views of the ways in which teachers, parents
and peers handled behaviour problems, and some of the open comments and
interview materials showed the ways in which schools have developed anti-bully-
ing policies. These usually outline:

• crisis intervention following actual events

• action with bullies and victims by staff and peers over a longer period
• the use of sanctions and rewards
• attitudinal change through assemblies, personal and social education, and
tutorial work
• shared value systems, such as contracts, and a positive school ethos.

The main thrust of anti-bullying policies has been to encourage pupils to tell
somebody in authority, so that action can be taken to suppress antisocial behav-
iours. The immediate response to threats or physical hurt is to stand up to the
aggressor (54 per cent of respondents), and then to tell somebody (37 per cent).
However, this masks a gender difference, in that boys will be more ready to
respond with a Ž ght but girls will be more ready to tell a member of staff. The
younger pupils are more ready to tell but older pupils clearly take the law into
their own hands and are twice as ready to Ž ght in Year 11 than in Year 7. Table
6 summarizes these results. In a multi-option response, it is disturbing that 16
per cent would suffer and keep quiet, and 24 per cent would simply avoid the
location where trouble occurs.

Telling
When telling, the best friend is the most common source of help in school (61
per cent), with the form tutor as the most signiŽ cant authority Ž gure (26 per
cent), and mother as the most often turned to parent (44 per cent).Respondents
believe that teachers would, however, act differently according to the situation
and the reason for the bullying activity. Race, religion, learning difŽ culties and
disability would, pupils think, be treated seriously by more than three-quarters of
the staff but this may be because they are topics which form part of the personal
and social education or tutorial discussion in most schools. Being new to the
school appears to be very well supported by staff as needing quick intervention
Bullying in secondary schools 151

TA B L E 6 Reaction to bullying – percentage

response (n = 4,175)
Responses %age of cohort

Keep quiet 16
Avoid where it happens 24
Talk way out of situation 19
Stay away from school 4
Miss lessons 2
Start a Ž ght 16
Tell somebody 37
Laugh it off 20
Stand up to people but not Ž ght 54

in any reported incident. Matters of gender, size, looks, family background,

speech, being different and work habits fall into a group which would be helped
for about half the time. Matters of Ž nance, dress, cleverness and sporting prowess
form a group of causes of incidents which may be supported by less than half the
staff approached. This may add weight to the interview comments that: ‘some-
times the teachers side with the bullies – they believe what they are saying’, and
‘the comments of teachers, especially when they laugh at what you are saying,
only makes matters worse’. The extent to which policy introduction has been suc-
cessful may be judged from the fact that only 65 per cent of the respondents think
that their form tutor has told them what to do in the event of any actual or threat-
ened victimization.

Teacher action
Table 7 summarizes the perceptions which pupils hold of the results of teacher
action when an incident is reported. Answers to another question show that the
reality is that eight per cent of pupils believe that at some point they would be
told to ‘stop telling tales’, and up to 13 per cent believe that teachers would not
be interested.
Results show that teachers are more likely to intervene in resolving physical
bullying or property loss than in incidents of verbal bullying. In so far as there is
a ranking of perceived intervention for physical bullying, pupils believe that 90

TA B L E 7 Pupil anticipation of teacher

action following reported incidents (n = 3,962)
The result would be: %age response
The person would be punished 48
The person would be excluded 37
Parents would be asked to come to school 36
They would be told off, to no effect 27
Things would get worse 17
Nothing would happen 9
I would be told to stay away from person 23
I would be told off 7
152 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

per cent of teachers would act if violence was threatened, or if there was a com-
plaint of a sexual nature, but only 73 per cent of teachers would act over slap-
ping, 59 per cent of teachers would act over hair-pulling and 52 per cent over
complaints of tripping and pushing. As these are the most frequently reported
physical incidents against girls, this may go some way to explain why four per cent
less girls think that teacher intervention is a help. The overall effectiveness of
teacher action is a concern, in that only just over half of the pupils believe that
teacher action brings improvements (Figure 4).
Problems occur when intervention follows ‘grassing’ (telling) in any form. This
was mentioned by 33 per cent of the interviewed pupils but only by 23 per cent
of those answering the questionnaire – perhaps a re ection of the heightened
awareness of the reason for the investigation in the interviews? Overall, only 14
of the 115 interviewed believed that there is an improvement following inter-
vention, and 41 believe that things get worse because teachers intimidated,
embarrassed or broke conŽ dentiality to the detriment of the victim. Whatever the
source of evidence, there is concern that over 50 per cent of teacher interventions
in the investigation overall is perceived as of limited effect. Open comments
yielded evidence of what pupils seek in ideal teacher intervention:

‘I think that teachers should put across to pupils more that they are there to
help, and if anyone needs to talk to them, they must feel free to do so because
I think that if pupils are being bullied they may be too shy to say anything.
If a teacher suspects a pupil is being bullied, I think that the teacher should
approach the pupil and make it clear that they are there to talk if they need
to do so.’

The reverse is seen in comments where teachers appear to be inept or fail to

explain their intervention more clearly to those involved:

‘I feel that there is far too much bullying at school and that teachers can’t
be bothered, so it ends up either getting so bad your parents take it into their
own hands or often go to the extent of involving the police.’

There is evidence that action is taken against bullies but that the school at large,
and the victim in particular, may not get to know what has happened. While the
sanctions are known, the fundamental misunderstanding here is that the conŽ -
dentiality which the victim seeks is also accorded to the bully in most school poli-
cies, and good counselling requires that this should be so. To accord with the
Children Act 1989, teachers acting in a counselling role can, however, only guaran-
tee conŽ dentiality if, in doing so, there would be no serious risk to the pupil.

40
30
20
10
0
Makes things Makes no Makes things
a lot better difference a lot worse

FIGURE 4 Pupil perception of effect of teacher intervention (percentages)

Bullying in secondary schools 153

It is not only the intervention, but also the curriculum emphasis on tolerance
and the avoidance of antisocial behaviour which is noted by the interviewees and
in open comment. There is a deŽ nite variation between schools in this area of the
investigation. In two schools all the students spoke at some point of the pro-
grammes of discussion, of the shared values which were part of assemblies and
tutorial work, and of the value of the anti-bullying contract and some form of
counselling support. In 11 schools there was some reference to each of these at
some point in the interviews, and in three others students only spoke about men-
tions in assemblies, PSE and varied teacher attitudes. Comments were positive
re ecting ‘good discussion’, ‘enjoyable role play’ and ‘learning about tolerance to
other people’, and ‘we learnt how to help other people who were in trouble’. At
the other extreme, there is pupil comment on ‘doing a worksheet about racism’,
‘only talked about it in PSE when there is a lot of mucking about’, ‘not really very
interested’ and ‘we have a bullying contract but do need to be reminded of this
every term’.

School life
Relationships between pupils and teachers, and pupils and peers, are funda-
mental to the management of personal conŽ dence and the possibility of suffer-
ing from antisocial activities. Evidence suggests that most of the schools in the
sample are supportive and making a full effort to listen to the pupils and to create
a positive environment. Overall, 57 per cent of pupils believe that teachers under-
stand them, and that they would always, or nearly always, help in a difŽ cult situ-
ation. This leaves over 40 per cent of respondents seeing that this support might
only be offered less frequently.
Those who feel less secure within school include 40 per cent who Ž nd it hard
to talk in front of the class – in some cases, because ‘they listen to the way you
speak and then make rude remarks’, ‘they don’t understand that it is difŽ cult with
my problem [stammer]’ and ‘it gives them an opportunity to call me names’. The
extent to which pupils feel upset and are discouraged is, however, much less but
the nine per cent so affected represent over 400 pupils across the 25 schools. Con-
Ž dence is shown by the 63 per cent who feel that they are good pupils, and the
42 per cent who always, or nearly always, like school. There are some gender and
age differences here, though – perceptions of teacher support diminish in the
middle secondary years, and the extent of disillusionment appears to be more of
a problem for the older girls. Lack of security is re ected in the 21 per cent who
do not feel safe in school for most of the time; the 23 per cent who do not like
school and the 11 per cent for whom there is a real wish to change schools. The
dynamics of the latter involve the pupil, the parents and the staff of the school,
and one girl comments:

‘Many girls are treated badly because of the choices they make in their life.
I chose to go out with a boy, who someone else in a higher year than me
liked! This was almost two years ago and I told my parents and teachers
about it. Even though the other pupils were spoken to, the bullying still
carried on. I got pushed around and was given verbal abuse and sometimes
I would pretend to be ill, so I didn’t have to come to school. Then I tried
to change schools but my headmaster said I didn’t have a good enough
reason.’
154 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

Parental attitudes
The interview evidence also makes it clear that many pupils are facing a double
battle in establishing a secure basis for living in school because they feel unsup-
ported within their homes. It is likely that those pupils who have a lower self-image
may also experience some distancing from their parents. About 24 per cent of
both boys and girls responding to the questionnaire believe that their parents are
strict or very strict, and slightly less think that too much is expected of them and
that they are pushed too hard. These might contribute to a feeling of inadequacy
such that 14 per cent would like to leave home; 17 per cent easily get upset at
home; and 14 per cent feel that they are a disappointment to their parents. The
possible indicators of stability show many more respondents feel that they have
a good home life, with about 70 per cent believing that parents do consider their
feelings, they are understood by their parents, they enjoy parental support in
school and that they feel happy at home.
Parental reaction to bullying events follows the levels of support suggested in
child–parent relationships. Twenty per cent of respondents are encouraged to
Ž ght back in the event of trouble – not necessarily by the same parents as those
who might undermine self-conŽ dence; 44 per cent believe that their parents
would talk to someone about life at school; and 30 per cent say that their parents
have actually complained. The culture against which this takes place does,
however, have a physical element, with 46 per cent of parents prepared to smack
their children; and less than total support, with over 30 per cent only condition-
ally prepared to believe their offspring. Young people with low self-esteem and
poor parental support appear from the interviews to be more likely to ‘have to
sort things out for myself ’ and ‘go along with the gang because I am frightened
to break away from them’, and follow the line of one girl who stated:

‘I was very unhappy because the girls ganged up on me and called me names
when I moved about the school but I knew that my mum would say to sort
it out and give them one back, but I couldn’t do it and I had been warned
to stay out of trouble, and so it was better to just stay miserable – I had been
suicidal and I will get that way again because there is nobody to believe me.’

Effective interventions
Much of the interview evidence was concerned with establishing the way in which
incidents had occurred, how they had been dealt with and what could be learnt
from them as the best way to solve problems within schools. Despite criticism of
teacher ineffectiveness, half of those interviewed spoke of the importance of
teachers talking and watching, and that this was particularly necessary in foster-
ing social group activities. Interviewees noted the need for frequent reminders of
policy and 18 per cent also commended good and continuing personal and social
education programmes, as well as the availability of a variety of extramural activi-
ties to foster social cohesion. There was some gender difference, in that girls
favoured counselling and anti-bullying contract policies while boys favoured
greater dependence on sanctions. The important factor emerging here and in the
questionnaire data is that pupils believe that there is a better way of regulating
social behaviour. While only eight per cent believe that it is right to hurt others,
up to 90 per cent of respondents in some schools speak in highly positive terms.
Table 8 summarizes the perceived change over time and suggests that pupils are
affected by the attitudes developed within school.
Bullying in secondary schools 155

TAB LE 8 Change in reported bullying behaviour experienced, by age group

(percentages)
Behaviour experienced – often, or very often, in year:
No. of pupils 7 8 9 10 11

Suffered untruths 4,305 22 25 22 22 17

Socially excluded 4,380 16 12 11 9 8
Physically hurt 4,355 9 8 7 3 2
Property damaged 4,323 8 8 6 8 5
Teasing and abuse 4,312 24 29 27 23 16

There may be a degree of realism, however, in the comment of one Year 11

boy: ‘it will always be part of the human nature of some people, and we just have
to help them’, while with a look to the future, another Year 11 boy felt: ‘without
some form of genetic mutation, there will always be bullies.’
Defeatism will, however, result in continuing misery for up to 20 per cent of
the school population in any one week and the effect on pupil development is far
too great to allow the retention of survivalist approaches.

Conclusion

Our investigation has shown that in a cohort of over 4,000 pupils in compulsory
secondary education there continues to be great unhappiness and destruction of
self-esteem because of continuing antisocial intimidation in all its forms. In any
one week, if the Ž gures are to be believed, 70 pupils in a school of 1,000 will be
experiencing the effects of physical or verbal bullying, social exclusion and inter-
ference with property. For a small percentage this is having a seriously debilitat-
ing effect and their hopes of achieving academic and social potential are marred,
either because the action is not seen or because it is seen but not acted upon by
those who have the ability to make a difference. Despite the efforts being made
within some schools, and the sterling work undertaken to shift attitudes even in
those communities traditionally known to be ‘hard’, three issues remain to be
tackled.

1 There is still not a consistent view among staff of what constitutes bullying
behaviour. In some schools, patterns of intimidation which exist within the
staffroom allow little scope for the changing of pupil attitudes. To quote one
teacher respondent:

‘We may have an anti-bullying policy, but it is meaningless when you see the
everyday examples of intimidation which we live with in the staffroom,
especially when you are starting out as a teacher.’

Many staff still appear to believe that all except the most serious bullying is part
of the process of growing up, and action on all fronts to reduce reported anti-
social behaviour merely serves to heighten awareness of ‘something which has
always been there’.
2 Anti-bullying policies are only effective where they have evolved from contri-
butions to the debate made by all sections of the school community. It is evident
that they need to be revisited on a regular basis and are ineffective unless backed
up by continuous training not only for staff, but also for the pupils who might be
156 Educational Research Volume 42 Number 2 Summer 2000

involved in all forms of peer support. Above all, where staff are seen to be going
through a process rather than working with conviction to implement an agreed
policy, only the most extreme violations are dealt with in an effective way and
much antisocial behaviour is driven underground.
3 Schools do not exist in isolation, but are inextricably bound to their com-
munities. As a result, much of the work undertaken in schools is negated as a
result of out-of-school attitudes shown by older peers, ‘gangs’, parents and the
community at large. Where patterns of behaviour are in con ict with the values
of the school, but are condoned within the community, there is little hope of
securing changed attitudes within schools except when pupils are under effective
and continuing staff supervision.

These results pose a challenge not only for the schools, but also for the com-
munities they serve.

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