Bullying: The Scottish experience

This article explores the efforts made to combat bullying in Scottish schools, beginning with a research project of 1989 in 10 secondary schools. It found that schools who had anti-bullying policies were more successful in combating bullying. The SCRB Anti-Bullying Packs were published in 1992-3 to help schools in developing such policies. Between March 1993 and March 1995 there was the Scottish Schools Anti-Bullying Initiative, where central government support was given to schools and local authorities towards this end. As an effective anti-bullying policy takes large but finite amounts of time and effort, the author concludes thata possible answeris a mote holistic and pragmatic approach’ aimed at protecting children from bullying and abuse of all kinds. It is not, the author stresses, an easy way out. He emphasises that there has to be a range of possible options for the school to take, as bullying is not a simple problem and there is no simple cure.