20,000 kids truant everyday because of bullying
20.11.2006
1 in 3 truants blame bullying
Beatbullying, the UK’s leading anti-bullying charity, today launches an important report into the effect of bullying on the educational attainment of Britain’s young people.
The report is launched to mark the beginning of Anti-Bullying Week and for the first time examines how bullying, or fear of bullying, is the cause of a third of all incidences of truanting.
In total, Beatbullying calculated that there are approximately 20,000 children truanting everyday due to bullying. This figure equates to 36% of all truancy, and so suggests that over a third of those children who truant are missing lessons because they are being bullied.
Beatbullying also launches a new television advertising campaign called “It’s time to beat bullying”. The advertising campaign, which will run from today, depicts a shocking scenario of a young boy terrified of going to school – for fear of bullying. The advert, which includes the voice of Beatbullying patron and Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox, reinforces the fact that there are thousands of young people lying in bed every night terrified of going to school the next day.
John Quinn, Development Director of Beatbullying: “According to the DfES there are over 55,000 unauthorised absences from school every day. Our report shows that a third of these children are not in school because they are terrified of the bullying they are going through.”
“The Government has had some impressive successes in the fight against bullying with high profile awareness raising campaigns, which have resulted in incidences of bullying in schools actually reducing. Now we need to enter into phase two, acknowledging the link between bullying and absenteeism, and see attainment rise, truancy drop and incidences of bullying continue to decrease.”
Beatbullying argues that if schools set out to prevent bullying rather than try to end it once it starts, then the problem will never take hold. Beatbullying takes a unique peer to peer approach to shaping attitudes and ultimately changing behaviours of the whole school rather than focusing on those involved specifically in bullying incidences. This approach is proven to work with schools reporting a drop in bullying of 39% and an increase in reporting of bullying of 60% after working with Beatbullying.
John Quinn continued: “Children and young people who are not in school are most vulnerable to academic failure, are easily drawn into crime and anti-social behaviour and are more likely to be unemployed after leaving school. For the third of young people who truant to escape being bullied, many of them persistently, lack of bullying prevention decreases their chances of fulfilling their potential and going on to be happy and productive citizens.
The report also highlights the authorised absences element, those young people who stay away from school with their parent’s permission, to avoid bullying. These include parents who are too scared to send their children to school because of their bullying and young people who fake illnesses to avoid bullies.
“In this report, young people have told us how they want the Government to beat bullying, they want their schools and education professionals to see truanting as a symptom of bullying and not necessarily the behaviour of lazy and trouble-making young people.”
On the campaign, Sara Cox said: “Sometimes you still hear people say that bullying is just a part of growing up, that it is just child’s play, well I hope that Beatbullying’s work changes that attitude. Bullying is not only having a serious social and emotional effect on Britain’s young people, but now it is proven that it is affecting the life chances and education of the future workforce of Britain.
“I’m proud to be a patron of Beatbullying, they are really making a difference to the lives of bullied kids. They don’t provide helplines or counsellors; what Beatbullying do is even more important, they prevent bullying from starting in the first place. During Anti-Bullying Week, from Nov 20th, Beatbullying is asking schools all around the country to get involved in anti-bullying lessons or fundraising for Beatbullying.”
Download a full copy of the report (16MB)
Download a full copy of the report (412KB)
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