Page 7 - Mini-Module 6

The different methods of bullying have also begun to include a new
and alarmingly growing practice: cyber bullying. "Cyber bullying is
the use of information and communication technologies—e-mail,
cell phones, pagers, text messages, instant messaging, defamatory
personal Web sites, personal polling sites, or a combination of
these—to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by
an individual or group for the intention of harming others.

Bullying in a school can take a number of different forms:

● students bullying other students.

● teachers bullying students.

● parents bullying teachers.

● students bullying teachers (or other staff).

● workplace bullying- where teachers bully teachers or
supervisors bully their staff. Principals may also be bullies and
not be aware that they are doing it.

It is not feasible to cover all these areas in depth in this deliberately
brief mini-module. Fortunately there is a huge amount of free and
valuable information on bullying on the internet. A good starting
point is “Teachernet” a government sponsored site for teachers and
school leaders in the UK.

(www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/b/bullying)

Most of the material on the internet provides strategies for
preventing bullying. In this mini-module we will focus on leadership
issues and the principal’s role in dealing with bullying. There are
good legal reasons why bullying is a principal’s problem.

7