East Sussex County Council's Anti-Bullying Team conducted its annual survey with nearly 6,000 young people during Anti-bullying Week in November last year. Students from 21 secondary schools took part in the survey about their experiences of bullying behaviour in schools and the community and the results have now been collated.
The findings of the anonymous survey showed that there have been many improvements in young people's perceptions and experiences of bullying behaviour over the last year. The majority of students (93%) said they felt safe at school, whilst 89% of students reported that they had a happy and caring school – a 6% increase on last year – and 77% of pupils said they had not been bullied at school, that's a 6% improvement on last year.
Equally as important, the survey showed that 67% of young people who said their school deal effectively with bullying behaviour, an increase of 7%.
The survey shows that name calling is still the most common form of bullying, though cyberbullying appears to be on the increase and appears to reflect the national picture, as the popularity of social-networking sites continues to rise.
Councillor David Elkin, East Sussex County Council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness, said: “It is great to see that young people in East Sussex feel safe at school and that the picture is improving. Our Anti-Bullying Team works tirelessly with schools to look at ways of reducing bullying. They use these annual surveys to make sure the work they are doing fits with what young people need to help them feel confident and happy at school. We want young people to be free from fear at school and know exactly where to turn should they experience any sort of bullying.”
This year's findings are part of the ongoing survey being conducted by the Anti-Bullying Team which is one of the largest surveys conducted with young people in the county.
As a result of the survey the Anti-Bullying Team will continue to introduce measures to support schools and other organisations ensure that young people feel happy about reporting bullying. They will be focusing more resources on cyber-bullying which appears to be on the increase.
To find out more about the work of the Anti-Bullying Team visit our Bullying pages or Connexions 360 – Bullying.
Reference:
2726
Contact the press team
East Sussex County Council