Bullying shifts to mental cruelty

Bullying in school has shifted from physical attacks to psychological cruelty, say head teachers in the UK, via the BBC.

"Mr Trobe, head teacher of Malmesbury School in Wiltshire, says that when he began his teaching career three decades ago, there was more physical bullying. "Now there are more cases of verbal or psychological bullying. There are so many different avenues for this," he says.

Such psychological tactics have become common in the past five or six years, he says, driven by the near-universal ownership of mobile phones among youngsters. "Mobile phones are used to send threatening messages or to ring people up and not saying anything. It all builds up pressure on youngsters."

As well as phone threats, he says children, particularly girls, have become more adept at ostracising each other and applying social pressure, by ignoring or excluding particular classmates.

... He warned that a series of violent attacks in schools, particularly involving girls, appearing to be a worrying pattern, in which pupils were ready to use extreme violence."

emily | 12:45 PM | Bullying by SMS |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/11/010620.htm