Less students claim to be bullied

Bullying Bullied digitalDigital bullying is a problem for students. Photo: Pixabay.com

Fewer students claim to be bullied in Norway

6.1 per cent of all Norwegian students reported that they are bullied or mobbed two to three times a month or more in an annual survey. This is a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from 2017.

 

This corresponds to about 27,000 students. The students specify that they are bullied by adults at school or by fellow students, both in person and/or digitally.

Around 447,000 students responded to the survey in the autumn of 2018. That is the all-time high number of respondents.

It is positive to see that there are fewer students who answer that they are being bullied, but there are still too many of them. We know that many schools work well to give students a safe and good school day. The work against bullying must be done every single day and has no expiry date, reacts Director of the Norwegian Directorate for Education, Hege Nilssen.

The student survey is compulsory for the 7th graders, the 10th graders and the 1st graders in upper secondary school and otherwise voluntarily from the 5th grade onwards.

Bullied by grown-ups

4.6 per cent of the students stated that they are bullied or mobbed by other students two to three times a month or more. Two-thirds of these report that they are called nasty things and teased in a hurtful manner. nearly half of them (46%) is frozen out and talked of behind their backs. Roughly one in four experienced physical bullying.

37 per cent of those who experience bullying two to three times a month or more, answer that no adult is aware of it. 16 per cent responded that the school know about the bullying, but that nothing is done. These figures decrease somewhat from the survey conducted in 2017.

The participants are also questioned about digital bullying and whether they are bullied by adults at school. 1.9 per cent responded that they are bullied digitally two to three times a month or more, while 1.6 per cent inform that they are bullied by adults at school at least 2-3 times a month.

Zero tolerance

Norwegian Minister of Knowledge, Jan Tore Sanner (Conservatives), is pleased that fewer students experience they are bullied.

All children are entitled to a safe and good learning environment. I am very happy that fewer children and youngsters are bullied. According to the student survey, we are now at a historically low level, but there are still many children who experience bullying at school. The effort must, therefore, be strengthened in the future. We have zero tolerance for bullying, Sanner asserts.

According to Sanner, the figures show that the Norwegian Government’s measures against bullying are working.

The Government has implemented a number of measures to strengthen the schools’ efforts to prevent, detect and handle bullying. The Bullying Act, which strengthens the rights of the bullied, came into force in the autumn of 2017. From the autumn of 2018, all counties gained bullying Ombudsmen. The Ombudsman will support and guide children, students and parents in cases involving bullying, and they are to ensure e a better kindergarten and school environment, the Minister of Knowledge explains.

Recently bullied or mobbed

Category

2017

2018

«Bullied by fellow students»

4,0 %

3,6 %

«Bullied digitally (mobile, Tab, PC) recently»

0,7 %

0,4 %

«Bullied by adults at school recently»

1,3 %

1,1 %

Bullied by a combination of the above

0,6 %

1,0 %

Total

6,6 %

6,1 %

Opportunity to work in school

In addition to bullying, the Student Survey also considers the students’ opinion of whether there is peace and quiet enough in the classroom to work. 63.5 per cent of the respondents either “slightly agree” or “totally agree” that there is good opportunity to work during lessons. This figure has remained stable over the past 6 years.


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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