Previous studies undertaken internationally have concluded that teachers commonly underestimate the prevalence of bullying among students at their schools. Evidence supporting this claim is based upon findings that estimations of bullying prevalence derived from the self-reports of individual students are higher than the estimations made by…

Bullying in schools, defined as a systematic abuse of power in interpersonal relations, may be undertaken individually and/or by groups. The extent to which schoolchildren report that they are bullied by their peers in each of these ways was examined in a survey of Australian schoolchildren (N = 1688) in Years 5-10 attending 36 coeducational…

With the growing recognition of the serious problem of bullying in schools, attention is drawn to the gap between what is known through research about school-based bullying and what is being applied in schools. This article seeks to identify areas in which the beliefs of teachers about school bullying agree with, or diverge from, what has been…

Students' perceptions of the nature and prevalence of bullying and how the problem was being addressed were investigated in a convenience sample of 1688 students in years 5-10 attending Australian government schools. Comparisons were made between students who reported that they had been bullied during the previous 12 months and others. Rankings of…

Despite the continual rise in research into school bullying worldwide, comparatively little has been reported on actions that have been taken by schools to counter the problem. This article reports on a small-scale, exploratory study that was designed to provide an account of strategies that were being undertaken in 25 Australian government…

Views on how schools in Australia are responding to student victimisation were accessed through an on-line survey answered by 167 parents whose children were attending government schools in year levels 5 to 10. Some 50.2% of the parents believed that their children had been bullied at school. The perceptions and judgments of these parents were…

Currently the main approach in responding to bullying in schools is to focus on undesired behaviours and to apply sanctions. This approach is often ineffective as well as failing to address the needs of children as persons as distinct from the behaviour they produce. A proposed alternative approach is to inquire into the motivation of children who…

Whether bullying in schools is increasing, as is widely believed, was investigated drawing upon empirical studies undertaken in a wide range of countries in which findings had been published describing its prevalence at different points in time between 1990 and 2009. Results do not support the view that reported bullying in general has increased…

According to student surveys conducted cross-nationally, a substantial proportion of students continue to be bullied at school after they have sought help from teachers. This article examines a range of strategies that teachers employ in dealing with bully/victim cases. The most commonly used strategy is Direct Sanctions: the imposition of…

Reports from schoolchildren across a range of countries indicate that interventions by teachers in cases of bullying are commonly unsuccessful, especially with older students. This article provides a brief description and critical examination of six major intervention strategies employed in schools and points to the need for better training of…

Reports from schoolchildren in a variety of countries suggest that school-based interventions tackling cases of bullying are often unsuccessful. Closer attention is needed to the adequacy and appropriateness of specific forms of intervention. This article examines the contribution that can be made through the use of a non-punitive approach known…

Previous research has indicated that harm to the mental health of children who are repeatedly victimised by their peers at school can be ameliorated through social or emotional support provided by other students. In this study we examined whether student provictim attitudes are related to more basic attitudes to self and attitudes to others.…

A sample of 735 US teachers and school counsellors completed an online survey asking how likely they would be to use various strategies to respond to a hypothetical bullying incident. Analyses examined their use of five strategies: "Ignoring the incident, Working with the bully, Working with the victim, Enlisting other adults, and Disciplining the…

Understanding the nature of bullying in schools can assist in understanding aggression between nations. Although there are substantial differences between bullying behaviour practised by school children and bullying attributed to nations, there are some commonalities. This article examines seven basic elements that help in identifying and…

The tendency for school children to bully others was conceived as lying along a continuum of frequency, ranging from zero to very high. To examine social factors that may influence the position of individual students on this continuum, questionnaires were administered to Australian school children attending state coeducational schools: primary (N…