One in five Form 1 students across Malta suffer from “serious bullying”, according to a new study conducted by Australian experts.
Phillip Slee and Grace Skrzypiec from Flinders University, Adelaide, are analysing the data collected earlier this year from 2,000 Form 1 students in 12 State schools.
Preliminary findings have revealed that 19.1 per cent of 11-year-olds are victims of serious bullying, which means being bullied once a week or more.
The most frequent form is name-calling, followed by being ignored and excluded from social circles, and physical bullying (hitting, punching and kicking).
Additionally, 10 per cent of students report being cyberbullied.
“Cyberbullying is particularly damaging due to its 24/7 nature,” Prof. Slee explained, following his address at a national conference on bullying organised by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society and the Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health at the University of Malta.
“A child can be woken up at 3am by a derogatory message of what will happen to him once he returns to school the next day.” Although children tended to say that they disliked face-to-face bullying the most, upon comparison, the effects of cyberbullying were found to be more damaging.
Cyberbullying easily escalated and was easily broadcast, Prof. Slee said, with comments remaining permanently online unless taken down by the website. And even if taken down, screen shots could still be saved and circulated.
The two were linked – children who suffered face-to-face bullying were also more likely to suffer from online bullying.
While 75 per cent of Form 1 students were described as flourishing, 4.5 per cent were languishing, Dr Skrzypiec continued.
“By languishing, we mean that children are not functioning well. They feel very unsafe at school, unable to cope, have difficulties with relationships, how they feel about themselves – ultimately, their wellbeing is compromised,” she explained.
Suicide could also be a devastating outcome of bullying.
Having one close friend is one of the best coping strategies
Children who were severely bullied also tended not to speak about their experience to anyone, making it imperative for teachers to find alternative ways of reaching the students and equipping them with coping mechanisms, Prof. Slee said.
“Malta is unique because it is one of few countries which is actually implementing a programme on helping children how to cope.” The two experts provided PSD teachers at the 12 schools involved with a manual comprising six lesson plans.
The lessons, which involve a lot of group work and a DVD depicting bullying scenarios, focus on equipping children with coping mechanisms, helping them develop resilience, optimism and conflict resolution skills.
Seriously bullied children had non-productive coping strategies, Prof. Slee said. They would resort to denial or escapism – with younger children pretending to be sick to avoid school while, in older children, escapism would manifest itself as truancy or drug and alcohol taking in an effort to dull the pain.
Dr Skrzypiec highlighted the fact that having one good friend was one of the best coping strategies since a close friendship acted as a buffering factor against bullying.
A friend could also covertly inform an adult of the victim’s ordeal, even if the victim refused to speak out. A teacher’s job was not merely that of imparting knowledge related to their subject of expertise – it was also about encouraging positive relationships between children.
“There’s no way a child would concentrate on your maths lesson if he has just received a threatening text message,” Prof. Slee said.
Bullying could be countered by motivating other children to intervene in a positive way by asking the bully to stop and by comforting the victim. A buddy system or mentoring by older students could also be effective.
Schools needed policy and grievance procedures developed in consultation with students and written in their language, Prof. Slee stressed. This should then be widely disseminated.
Another strategy was giving children a map and asking them to colour in red the places they feared approaching. Teachers would then be able to pinpoint areas where they needed to be more vigilant.
“Ultimately, relationship problems have relationship solutions. Problems grow in the dark, like a child’s fear of monsters beneath the bed,” Prof. Slee said. “But if you shine a light under the bed, the monsters will go away and the problems will diminish in size.”