Every primary and post-primary school in the Republic of Ireland must have adopted an anti-bullying policy by April 11th.
Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D. announced today that €60,000 is being provided to support the delivery of anti-bullying training sessions for parents.
The Anti-Bullying Parent Training Programme is being run jointly by the National Parents Council Primary (NPC-P) and the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPC-PP) to support the implementation of the Action Plan on Bullying which called for training and resources for parents and boards of management.
As part of the campaign, the 4,000 primary and post-primary schools must formally adopted the policy, which must cover a range of issues including physical, verbal and cyber bullying, in the coming fortnight.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said that while schools were provided with a template to work from, they were given a certain amount of flexibility so the policy caters for the particular needs and circumstances of the pupils and school in questions.
Schools are not required to inform the department when they adopt a policy, but are subject to routine ‘whole school inspections’ that will now have “a stronger focus on the actions schools take to create a positive school culture and to prevent and tackle bullying”.
Next month, the NABC will roll out a pilot version of their ‘OK Kids Programme’ in five schools in Roscommon.
The initiative will run for six to nine months and provide training for schools on how to develop and implement an anti-bullying policy.
The NABC is hoping to extend the programme to a further 50 schools at the start of the next academic year.
Ian Power, the Executive Director of SpunOut.ie, said that it is “vital” for all schools to work with students, parents and teachers to develop anti-bullying policies.
“It is vital there is student buy-in to the agreed policy in order to educate young people about the impact bullying behaviour has on victims and the consequences for those who engage in it.”
