The words ’bully’, ’bullied’ and ’bullying’ are highly emotional and often misunderstood.
The Government defines bulling in the following way:
’Bullying can be defined as deliberately hurtful behavior, repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves. The three main types of bullying are:
| " | physical (eg hitting, kicking, theft) |
| " | verbal (eg name calling, racist remarks) |
| " | indirect (eg spreading rumours, excluding someone from social groups).’ |
·
The key messages are that bullying is not just physical (it can be by text messaging!) and that it is something that is more than a one off incident.
If you are being bullied you must tell someone! It will make things better not worse.
· If you are in a school or college tell a teacher or tutor, they have a legal duty to combat bullying and to act on information that you pass on. If you feel the school you are in lets you down you can take your concerns to the Local Education Authority, colleges have a complaints procedure that you should follow.
· If you are in employment then your employer has a legal duty to protect you, if they don’t take legal advice from your union, professional association or a solicitor.
For further advice in schools go to:
www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/pages/home.shtml
For schools, colleges and the work place you can talk to a local Citizens Advice Bureau:
www.adviceguide.org.uk/nacab/plsql/nacab.homepage
or Victim Support:
www.victimsupport.org.uk/vs_england_wales/contacts/cornwall/site_info/legal.php
Their national and local numbers will be in the local telephone directory or through Directory Enquiries.
You can also go to the Bullying Online site, which is really useful:
Written by a www.eefo.net user
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