Bullying - In school and the workplace?
National anti bullying week is to run between 20th and 24th November 2006 with many events planned to highlight the effects of bullying at school, at work and in the home. In fact everywhere people meet they run the risk of encountering a bully.
"Sticks and stones will break my bones and words will also hurt me!"
Bullying at School
Much has been written on the subject and it is not our intention to create yet another study. Suffice it to say that for any child who is bullied by their peers, their teachers, parents or total outsiders the effect can be devastating and long lasting. Sleepless nights, ill health and a reluctance to participate together with a total loss of self esteem are the more obvious side effects.
Children may be reluctant to talk about bullying because they often fear, sometimes with good reason, that the experience will become worse if the bully is confronted by authority and little or no action taken to prevent future occurrences. What are they or you to do if the bully is the authority figure?
Click here for more information
A modern form of bullying has arrived with the mobile telephone with children being bullied in texts received often from an unknown source.
See article.
Bullying at Work
Many of us think that we will leave bullying behind on the playground but how wrong can we be. A breakdown of reported bullying cases in the UK showed:
Approx 20% are teachers, lecturers and school administrative staff
Approx 12% are health care professionals, including nurses, paramedics, GPs etc
Approx 10% are from social services and caring occupations including care of the elderly and people with special needs
(Source http://www.bullyonline.org)
Some more Statistics
Bullying of adults by adults can be just as debilitating for the victim with many driven to stress related illness and absence from work, sleepless nights requiring drugs to facilitate a good nights rest and a genuine fear of returning to the workplace. Once confident and self assured they can become afraid to even step outside their home unaccompanied for fear of being confronted by the bully.
How do I recognise a bully?
There is probably no definitive or complete description of a bully but there is an informative article on the subject here (click here) and if you read it you may be sure that you will recognise the character traits if you have encountered a bully. Does it remind you of someone you know?
More Information
Click on the links below for more information:
It can happen to anyone!
Messages of support
Head teacher found guilty of bullying staff
Bullying in the workplace
Are you a bully?
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