Child Safety in Schools

[Tree Man 88]

There seems to be an outbreak of physical and verbal bullying in Manx state schools at the moment, breaking the duty of care that all children are entitled too.

Does anyone have any experience of this, and how should a culture of bullying be stopped?

Verbal and physical abuse of children isn't acceptable, and normally it's the most vulnerable who get targeted. 

 

Edited April 24 by Tree Man 88

[TheTeapot]

Regular beatings is the only way to stop it.

[Tree Man 88]

Unfortunately not all children are wired for violence...and nor should they be. 

[TheTeapot]

People remain in complete denial about the impact of closing the schools during the pandemic. What they did there was confirm to the kids that they did not matter, that their education did not matter. People who have paid attention to those involved in disaster management might express surprise that the problem is not worse.*

 

* See also the recent reporting around alcohol deaths.

Edited April 24 by TheTeapot

[Tree Man 88]

There was this talk of putting extra money into education for learning and wellbeing to try to compensate for the damage due to COVID.

That's not happened! 

They can find 100k a year for a head of AI though!

[Anthony Ingham]

Bullying is awful.

It was rife when I was at school 49 years ago.

Experience of kids I know going through school on the island in the last few years is that things are greatly improved and that concerns are much more quickly and forcefully dealt with by the schools but that social media and mobile phones give the school new challenges as a lot goes on out of school time and via Snapchat etc which is very difficult for the school to get involved in or do much about.

Unfortunately it is something that will always be about and which kids need to learn to try and be resilient to.  Schools getting involved and disciplining the Bully often just makes the situation worse and involves other people.  Even more unfortunately it’s an issue people have to continue to face and learn to deal with and how to react to right through life.

Difficult, but the schools can’t ever be expected to eradicate bullying in my opinion.

[Tree Man 88]

So we just let children be phyiscially assaulted in school then.

Physical assault/abuse is one of the ACEs  (Adverse Childhood Experiences) which lead to addiction and mental health issues in later life.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

No thanks.

We should be evolving, not devolving. 

[Tree Man 88]

There is a duty of care that schools legally have to keep to. Physical assault breaks that, they are children.

Edited April 24 by Tree Man 88

[WTF]

1 hour ago, Anthony Ingham said:

Bullying is awful.

It was rife when I was at school 49 years ago.

Experience of kids I know going through school on the island in the last few years is that things are greatly improved and that concerns are much more quickly and forcefully dealt with by the schools but that social media and mobile phones give the school new challenges as a lot goes on out of school time and via Snapchat etc which is very difficult for the school to get involved in or do much about.

Unfortunately it is something that will always be about and which kids need to learn to try and be resilient to.  Schools getting involved and disciplining the Bully often just makes the situation worse and involves other people.  Even more unfortunately it’s an issue people have to continue to face and learn to deal with and how to react to right through life.

Difficult, but the schools can’t ever be expected to eradicate bullying in my opinion.

you're right,   bullying is just the herd working out the pecking order  , but the pecking order changes once you leave school so it was pointless in the long term for most of them.  

Edited April 24 by WTF

[The Phantom]

Of more worry to the traditional physical and verbal bullying nowadays is the social media/online bullying that is so prevalent today.  Used to be that at least when the bullied kid was not at school, they would escape it.  Not anymore.   In the safety of their own bedroom, the harassment will continue as long as they have a WIFI connection. 

To be honest it's not something that I think we'll need to worry about for much more here.  With the declining birth rate and the fact there have been 3 families in one of my kids' classes this year that have decided to move away; there will be hardly any kids left here on the Island. 

 

[manxman1980]

2 hours ago, Tree Man 88 said:

There seems to be an outbreak of physical and verbal bullying in Manx state schools at the moment, breaking the duty of care that all children are entitled too.

Does anyone have any experience of this, and how should a culture of bullying be stopped?

Verbal and physical abuse of children isn't acceptable, and normally it's the most vulnerable who get targeted. 

 

I have experience of being bullied at school but that was years ago.  It went on before I attended school and I am not surprised to hear that it continues today.  Has the extent of the bullying whilst in school got worse?  Is the physical abuse worse now than in the past?  

I am not seeking to downplay the concerns but wanting to explore why you have started this discussion now?  

35 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Of more worry to the traditional physical and verbal bullying nowadays is the social media/online bullying that is so prevalent today.  Used to be that at least when the bullied kid was not at school, they would escape it.  Not anymore.   In the safety of their own bedroom, the harassment will continue as long as they have a WIFI connection. 

This I totally agree with.  I cannot imagine how it must feel to be in a situation where you cannot escape the bullying.  Even quitting social media is likely to lead to increased bullying as you would be differentiating yourself from everyone else.  That also does not stop others using social media to spread malicious rumours.

 

[WTF]

7 minutes ago, manxman1980 said:

I have experience of being bullied at school but that was years ago.  It went on before I attended school and I am not surprised to hear that it continues today.  Has the extent of the bullying whilst in school got worse?  Is the physical abuse worse now than in the past?  

 

This I totally agree with.  I cannot imagine how it must feel to be in a situation where you cannot escape the bullying.  Even quitting social media is likely to lead to increased bullying as you would be differentiating yourself from everyone else.  That also does not stop others using social media to spread malicious rumours.

 

back in my day the teachers were in a position to be physical with the bullys and the truth is 'pain' is a great educator so i would suspect aggressive kids these days have less to fear regarding physical reprisals .

 

the social media bullying i don't actually get , if someone is sending you nasty messages block them or avoid that platform , it may not be as simplistic as i'm thinking it is but i don't get why it can't be avoided, 

[Cambon]

The main problem these days is psychological bullying. When I was a kid, everyone was bullied to some extent. Pointless pecking order, as described above. When it was my turn to receive abuse, I got my revenge on the rugby field. These days, I have heard they play touch rugby. 

[HeliX]

3 hours ago, Tree Man 88 said:

There is a duty of care that schools legally have to keep to. Physical assault breaks that, they are children.

How do you propose physical assault be prevented entirely?

[HeliX]

43 minutes ago, WTF said:

the truth is 'pain' is a great educator so i would suspect aggressive kids these days have less to fear regarding physical reprisals .

You can't just say "the truth is" and then write some bollocks that has been resoundingly proven false.