Meeting of the Parliament 15 November 2017
I thank both committees for their important work on the issues. Many of us in the chamber are fortunate to have positive memories of school lives that were not blighted by bullying. Sadly, I am sure that others were never happier than on the day that they closed the door on their school life.
Bullying is not a new phenomenon; it is a facet of human behaviour that is often driven by a need to exert power and is particularly noticeable in schools. Parents, schools, Governments and young people have wrestled with the challenge of how to eliminate bullying, but the sad truth is that we will never stop it completely. However, we must do everything that we can to minimise the frequency of bullying to ensure that those who choose to act that way and those who are impacted are both supported.
Today’s debate focuses on prejudice-based bullying, which is a negative judgment of someone that is based on characteristics such as disability, race, religion or sexual orientation. The effects of prejudice-based bullying can be manifest. The victim might feel socially isolated and unable to talk to anyone about their experiences. They might develop anxiety or other mental health conditions, or they might even feel compelled to take their own life. The fact that 27 per cent of LGBT young people have attempted suicide at least once as a consequence of prejudice-based bullying should engage and alarm us all.
Prejudice-based bullying cannot be tackled by a one-size-fits-all approach. We must recognise that there is a complex and evolving spectrum of acts that might constitute bullying. We know that the nature and method of bullying has changed over the years, and that the advent of the digital age and, in particular, social media has done little to stem its rise. Children and young people are now expressing opinions without thought and behind the veil of anonymity of a code name. They are saying and doing things that they would not do in full view of their peers.
Whether it is careless commentary or a targeted attack, the pervasive nature of social media has given new lifeblood to prejudice-based bullying. A single comment or photo can reach an entire school community in minutes and, unlike when most of us were young, it does not stop at the school gate. It reaches other schools and social settings and it follows the victim home. It is the lack of relief from the torment that can lead a young person to believe that taking their own life is preferable to enduring another day of the comments and attacks that they might face.
What can we do to change that? We know that children learn many of their prejudices and societal norms from their parents, peers and the adults in their lives such as teachers and celebrity role models. We also know that, as they develop, children become more sensitive to others as they mature.
Although our society is more inclusive than ever, there has been a rise in prejudicial bullying, so we cannot be complacent and it is clear that we need to review the way in which we deliver personal and social education in our schools. I welcome the fact that a review is under way and I hope that it will bring some useful recommendations to the Parliament.
I want to raise some salient points about PSE. If we are serious about tackling prejudice-based bullying, we need the right people in the right jobs. Dr Joan Mowat, senior lecturer in education at the University of Strathclyde, highlighted that PSE is typically delivered
“by the least experienced members of staff with often minimal support or guidance in its delivery.”
We must remember that our teachers, first and foremost, are subject specialists, and that is particularly true in secondary schools. They are historians, linguists, chemists or mathematicians; they are not social scientists, counsellors, sexual health educators or substance misuse specialists. Teaching a complex and multifaceted issue such as PSE requires a very specific skill set, and PSE is a subject and a specialism in its own right. Teaching it piecemeal without appropriate background and context can do far more harm than good.
Factoring in the existing workload pressures that our teachers face, it is clear that the current inconsistent delivery of PSE teaching is unsustainable. That cannot continue and PSE as we know it must be overhauled. We need to have greater involvement from external contributors with relevant expertise and training in the specialist areas that make up PSE. We need to ensure that every young person has access to and knows that there is a safe place where they can go and where they will be listened to in confidence. We also need to ensure that teacher training includes awareness of the use of language and of the potential impact of what is perceived by the teacher as a joke on a young person. Further, we must ensure that our embrace of the digital age does not take possession of the school classroom and enable covert bullying to take place.
The committees’ reports and today’s debate should be the impetus for taking forward the issue so, collectively, we must make sure that that happens.
15:44