Education Ministers have agreed to a new national plan to address bullying in Australian Schools as recommended by the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review.
The Federal Government will back the plan agreed by Education Ministers on Friday with up to $10 million investment to get the work we have to do started.
The investment supports two of the main recommendations of the Review:
- Putting $5 million behind a national awareness campaign, and
- another $5 million behind new resources for teachers, students and parents. This will include resources for students on how to be 'upstanders' against bullying with evidence showing peer-based approaches can be powerful.
The Anti-Bullying Rapid Review examined current school procedures and best practice methods to address bullying behaviours.
One of the key recommendations is the need for timely and clear action when a complaint or incident takes place. The Review recommended schools should respond within two school days to a complaint or incident.
The Review received over 1,700 submissions from parents, students, teachers and staff, with the majority of submissions being from parents.
The submissions have informed the recommendations and help ensure they are grounded in evidence and informed by lived experiences.
The Report highlights we need to:
- Apply a whole-of-school approach to preventing and addressing bullying and other harmful behaviours, including through empowering and equipping parents/carers, students and the school workforce,
- Ensure there is strong and visible school leadership to drive the culture change,
- Enhance transparency on anti-bullying actions,
- Implement evidence-based approaches, and
- Support the school workforce to prevent and address bullying.
The plan builds on the success of a national mobile phone ban which has improved learning outcomes in schools.
The Government's social media ban for Under 16s will also come into effect from 10 December, which will help to reduce online bullying.
This is just the start and the hard work is ahead of us to make our schools safe and protect children.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:
"Bullying is cruel and it's dangerous.
"It doesn't just leave physical scars, it leaves invisible scars that can last a lifetime.
"That's why we've taken action with this national plan to address bullying.
"A lot of parents told us it was taking too long for some schools to act on bullying complaints.
"The Anti-Bullying Rapid Review recommends that schools should respond within two school days to a complaint or incident.
"If we're going to properly tackle bullying, we need to nip it in the bud and to act early.
"And we need to make sure teachers have the right tools and training so they know how to act and what to do.
"This is just the start and the hard work is ahead of us to make our schools safe and protect children."
