KEY POINTS:
The best way to prevent bullying in schools is by having a school culture that emphasises student safety and wellbeing, a new education report says.
The Education Review Office report, Safe Schools: strategies to prevent bullying, discusses the range of programmes and strategies used by 297 New Zealand schools, chief review officer Graham Stoop said.
Research covered 219 primary and 78 secondary schools.
The report provided examples of good practice found in the schools in the study, Mr Stoop said.
It found schools acknowledged and acted on their responsibility to equip students with strategies to deal with bullying behaviour.
Most schools offered a range of programmes for students and documented their anti-bullying policies, procedures and plans, Mr Stoop said.
"Some schools went to the extent of surveying students and parents regularly to check whether or not bullying was an issue."
But the report found while most school boards and principals reported their strategies were reducing or eliminating bullying behaviour, sometimes their evidence of success was either not well-documented or did not link directly to the outcomes of a specific programme.
Mr Stoop said the report emphasised an ongoing need for schools to review their programmes and strategies.
- NZPA
