Cyberbullying is the tip of the bullying iceberg

19.11.2007

UK’s leading bullying prevention charity, Beatbullying, says it welcomes the new DCSF guidance, however guidance is not enough to win the war on bullying.

Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive of Beatbullying said:

“The guidance has put us in a better position than we were in yesterday in the battle to beat bullying. But it is certainly not the solution to bullying! A piece of paper is not going to save a child from their tormentors.

“It is important to remember that Cyberbullying is just the tip of the bullying iceberg. It’s what we don’t see posted up on the internet that worries us most. At least if bullying is posted online we have a digital fingerprint to follow.

“The solution to cyberbullying is the same solution to all bullying – prevention. We want to see the Government put prevention into practice through peer mentoring and other proven initiatives. Beatbullying has been lobbying for the Government to spend a little as £4 per child to run peer mentoring in every school in the country.”

In response to the recent NASUWT statement about mobile phones, Ms Cross said:

“The NASUWT’s call for mobile phones to be classified as “potentially offensive weapons” is a call too far. Many parents want their children to carry a mobile phone for safety reasons. It is a great pity that a small amount of young people use their phones for bullying, but confiscating them is ridiculous. Should we start to confiscate pens and paper when nasty notes are passed around the classroom? No, we must focus on prevention!”

Ms Cross warns:

“Cyberbullying seems to be flourishing at the moment as both young people embrace social networking technology and schools clamp down on bullying – causing bullying to migrate online.  It seems to be easier to type something hateful to a school friend rather than say it to their face. 

“Some young users mistakenly believe that their online activity is anonymous and are under the illusion that there will be no punishment from authorities in cyberspace.  The truth is that every illegal or offensive action a user makes online is traceable to their exact location via their unique IP address.

”We need to be careful to strike a balance between giving young people the internet access they have a right to and the appropriate sanctions on those who abuse that right. Young people convicted of serious online bullying, intimidation and harassment deserve to be reprimanded (on occasions there should be criminal sanctions) but they still deserve an education, or else we may just be perpetuating the problem.”

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For further information please contact:
Richard Piggin 07875 481 142
Niall Cowley 07904 343 950
pressoffice@beatbullying.org