Cyber-bullying’s victims and perpetrators

Research has uncovered some disturbing information about cyberbullying among children with SEND, reports Dean West.

Students looking at a mobile phone with very serious faces

The internet can afford those with SEND an easier means of relating to their peers, and communication technologies can ‘act as a leveller’ (Cross et al., 2009, p.8) for those with disabilities. Kowalski and Fedina suggested that some with SEND might lack social skills and empathy, and be emotionally volatile. The possible increased inability to understand and develop relationships with others can lead to problems online as well as offline .

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      string(5702) "64 Vol 1.4 n www.teachingtimes.comSchool Business Legal BriefingSchool Leadership TodayT here has been a great deal of recent press coverage about the problems associated with the growth of social networking websites and increasing technological sophistication among children. Oneprominent issue is ‘cyberbullying’: the use of text messages, emails and websites to hurt, upset or embarrass another person.The focus has been on the dangers faced by school pupils from cyberbullying. One 15-year-old girl, MeganThe dark side of the webThe cyberbullying of teachers by pupils is causing increasing alarm. Catrin Llewellyn has some timely advice to protect both your staff and your schoolGillan, committed suicide after being bullied through the social networking site Bebo. However, a survey carried out in April by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the Teacher Support Network suggests that teachers are also increasingly at risk of being the victims of cyberbullies. It found that one in seven teachers have been cyberbullied and of those, 68 per cent had received unpleasant emails, 26 per cent had been the subject of abuse on websites and 28 per cent had received abusive text messages.65www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 1.4School BusinessLegal BriefingThe problem is compounded by teachers’ relative lack of technological sophistication compared to their pupils, the difficulty in identifying the perpetrators and the range of methods which have been used to cyberbully teachers. Obvious methods include setting up ‘hate groups’ on Facebook or MySpace, posting negative reviews on Rate My Teacher (the bête noire of many teachers), and sending abusive text messages. But there are other equally damaging methods such as hacking into a teacher’s email account, sending viruses or using the school’s own virtual learning environments (VLEs) to disrupt or delete a teacher’s work.The survey highlighted the effects of cyberbullying upon teachers with 39 per cent saying they suffered a blow to their confidence, 25 per cent saying they felt the standard of their teaching was affected and 6 per cent reporting that they were signed off work with stress or other related illness. Such statistics will be especially worrying to school leaders because they indicate a heightened risk of employment claims from teachers whose professional lives and health have been damaged as a result of cyberbullying.Teachers who are minded to bring a claim cannot make a complaint to an employment tribunal for cyberbullying alone. They would need to link the abuse they suffered to the existing discrimination legislation or to show that the school has failed in the duty of care owed to its employees. This can be difficult, as demonstrated the case of Campbell v Falkirk Council in which a teacher unsuccessfully argued that his case fell within the ambit of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 because he had been bullied by pupils on account of his baldness. Despite this, where cyberbullying takes the form of racist, sexist or homophobic abuse, schools should be particularly vigilant towards the risk of a discrimination claim.Hurdle There is a currently a legal hurdle for teachers who wish to bring claims under the discrimination legislation. While a school will have liability for the acts of staff members who cyberbully other teachers in the course of their employment, as the law stands it will not have liability for discriminatory acts such as racist or homophobic abuse carried out by pupils. The 2003 House of Lords case of Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield School involved a teacher who was harassed and bullied by pupils because she was a lesbian. The court found that the school was not liable for failingto act where a third party, such as a pupil, discriminates against or harasses its employees, unless the reason why the school failed to act was itself discriminatory. However, the law is changing and the forthcoming Equality Bill will make employers explicitly liable, in some circumstances, for harassment by third parties in the workplace.Where a school fails to take steps to address cyberbullying, a teacher who falls victim to cyberbullies may consider that the school has broken the duty of trust and confidence which it owes to all employees and may decide to resign and claim constructive dismissal. If the school is aware that the teacher has been cyberbullied by pupils, it could be liable if it was in a position to prevent the cyberbullying from occurring but did not take steps to do so. Employers also have an implied duty to provide a suitable working environment and if, for example, a school should fail to prevent pupils from filming teachers in class with mobile phones, it could be in breach of this duty, enabling the teacher to resign and claim constructive dismissal. To avoid the risk of a constructive dismissal claim, school leaders should take reports of cyberbullying seriously and implement school policies to ensure that all wrongdoing is dealt with thoroughly and consistently.Teachers also may consider taking action under the law of defamation if a pupil makes a libellous allegation on a website, although this can be difficult where comments are made anonymously or using a pseudonym. In order to succeed in such a claim, the teacher must show that the allegation was defamatory: that it lowers the individual in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally by exposing the victim to hatred, contempt or ridicule. Insults or offensive rants such as “Mrs Jones is fat and ugly” will generally not be"
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Leadership

The dark side of the web

9 Oct 2009

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      string(5697) "‹‹ PREVIOUS PAGE n  NEXT PAGE ››This month’sfeaturese-learning UPDATE n www.teachingtimes.comInvisible warnings:The rise of virtual self-harmon social mediaken Corish, online safety manager for SWGfL and senior managerof the UK Safer Internet Centre, discusses how schools and parentscan identify the signs of ‘self-baiting’ through social media in orderto support vulnerable children online.In August 2013, 14 year-old Hannah Smith took herown life amidst claims of cyberbullying and trollingonline. The subsequent coroner’s inquest foundhowever, that the vicious comments posted had notcome from a third party, but, in all probability, fromHannah herself.A study of 600 college students in the US regarding what is nowcalled ‘self-baiting’ showed that around nine per cent of them hadposted negative comments about themselves online, quoting thereason as ‘a cry for help’. But how do you distinguish the differencebetween cyberbullying and virtual self-harm? And what can schoolsand parents do to prevent it?http://www.teachingtimes.com‹‹ PREVIOUS PAGE n  NEXT PAGE ››This month’sfeaturese-learning UPDATE n www.teachingtimes.comThere is a great deal of pressure on young people today tosucceed, to have the right kind of image, to be well-liked by others.The internet has been a very positive influence over this at times,providing advice, community and enjoyment, acting as a stage forchildren and young people to express themselves and find a voice.But at the same time, it can also be highly harmful to children whomay find themselves falling victim to online bullying or harassment,whether by peers or anonymous sources.Cyberbullying has quite rightly become aprimary e-safety concern for schools, but thecase of Hannah Smith has highlighted anotherarea of risk that needs to be addressed. Theterm ‘self-harm’ is usually associated withphysical injuries that are self-inflicted by anindividual, usually by ‘cutting’, but it can alsoinclude behaviours such as drug or alcoholabuse, over-eating or starving oneself. Theinternet however, has given rise to a newform of self-abuse, conducted predominantlythrough social media sites to inflict emotionalor psychological harm.The practice is designed to reinforce thenegative feelings a young person might haveabout themselves and can take two forms.The first is known as ‘self-baiting’, which isidentical to the practice of ‘trolling’, wherean individual will target an online communityand drop a ‘lure’ (a negative statementagainst the community) into the conversationin order to elicit a vicious retaliation,usually including defamatory remarksdirected towards the writer. Trolls engagein this activity, not to engage in rationaldiscussions, but simply to gain attention and cause disruption oranger amongst others.Self-baiters on the other hand, use this opportunity to generateabuse against themselves and confirm any negative thoughts or self-doubt; the practice is the same, but the psychological outcomes arevery different. The UK’s shift towards the criminalisation of trolling byamending the Defamation Act in April 2013 has increased the risk http://www.teachingtimes.com‹‹ PREVIOUS PAGE n  NEXT PAGE ››This month’sfeaturese-learning UPDATE n www.teachingtimes.combehind this self-abuse strategy, as it may result in conviction and verylittle mitigating support.In the second manifestation of online self-abuse, it is the victimwho constructs the abuse and posts it in the guise of someoneelse. This is done by creating various false profiles which then actas vehicles for the negative comments. This requires an intelligentunderstanding of how the site works and also a high level ofcommitment to establishing and maintaining the profiles to achieverealism. In some cases, the victim will be seeking support frompeers to counter the negative statements, soliciting compliments andvalidation to affirm that they are valued. However, this can also leadto the victim retaliating against their friends, as the threat of beingdiscovered and shamed forces them to maintain the façade.The main issue in online bullying for schools is that it is verydifficult to distinguish self-baiting from trolling, or self-harm fromcyberbullying, as the reasons behind the abuse and where itoriginates from can be hard to trace. Effective anti-bullying strategieswill involve all parties: victims, perpetrators and onlookers, but inthe case of virtual self-harm, this is likely to create more victims byinterrogating students in an attempt to find the anonymous culprit whomay in fact be an invention of the victim.Understanding the underlying psychological issues that maycause virtual self-harm or other associated behaviours is thereforevital in an effective intervention. The advice of “stop usingtechnology” is not effective, nor rational, as many children havenow grown up surrounded by technology and it is an intrinsic part oftheir lives. Technology itself is not the culprit, and in most cases, theexperiences of children online are positive.Professionals who are responsible for the safeguarding of childrenhave an obligation to protect children in any environment, so theymust be empowered to build an awareness of online platforms andinteractions, and this should be a vital component of self-harm CPD.Children who claim to be the victim of cyberbullying should alwaysbe taken seriously.Pupils who may have invented the abuse against themselvesare just as important as those who suffer from third-party bullying,as there is most likely a deeper psychological issue at work"
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Digital Learning

Invisible warnings: The rise of virtual self-harm on social media

3 Aug 2015

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      string(4464) "statements are removed.Where a teacher finds themselves the victim of cyber bullying, rather than heading straight for the courts, they will generally turn in the first instance to the school for assistance. It is crucial at this point that school leaders respond appropriately to avoid the risk of future claims arising from the school’s failure to adequately address the problem.So how should the school respond? Firstly, the teacher concerned should be encouraged to keep any evidence of cyber bullying by saving text messages, printing out emails and using the ‘print screen’ function to keep a permanent record of website content. Such evidence will form the basis of any disciplinary action or referral to the police. Should the school decide to take disciplinary action against pupils who are responsible for cyber bullying it should do so in accordance with the school disciplinary policy. If the problem persists, pupil exclusion should not be ruled out.Where a school is faced with a cyber bullying incident which is so serious as to potentially constitute a criminal offence such as stalking, harassment, illegal content or threats of a physical or sexual nature, the school should inform the police and seek their involvement in identifying the perpetrators. It can be difficult to take meaningful action to prevent cyber bullying from reoccurring without police involvement. Phone companies and internet service providers may not be willing to disclose the identity of someone sending anonymous messages without a request from the police under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.As prevention is generally better than cure, school leaders must ensure that they have appropriate measures in place to guard against cyber bullying. Effective policies and reporting procedures and proper training of staff are particularly important. All schools should have an anti-bullying policy which covers teachers as well as pupils, and which includes specific information on cyber bulling. Any anti-bullying policy should set out clear disciplinary sanctions for cyber bullying and specify the member of staff to whom incidents of cyber bullying should be reported.  A member of the senior management team should be designated to deal with cyber bulling issues and should receive training in new technologies, the possible dangers and how to deal with them.Most schools have an existing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy, but school leaders should review these to ensure that they contain clear acceptable use guidelines with specified consequences for non-compliance or abuse. It is sensible to monitor pupils’ use of the internet and school email systems but in order to do so schools must have pupils’ consent to avoid falling foul of the Data Protection Act 1998. It is also prudent to obtain pupils’ consent in the policy to permit a senior member of staff to search the contents of their mobile phone if they reasonably suspect it has been used for bullying. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 grants school staff the right to confiscate a mobile phone which is causing a disturbance in class or which contravenes behavioural or anti-bullying policies, but they may not search the phone without the pupil’s consent. A pupil who has been using their phone to film a teacher in class is most unlikely to give such consent, and it is therefore important to obtain it in advance by ensuring pupils sign up to school policies.It is an unfortunate truth that watertight policies and vigilant monitoring of IT systems will not completely prevent cyber bullying from occurring. Legal action is usually a last resort but teachers who have been the victims of cyber bullying will often approach their union for advice on the legal options available to them under existing employment legislation. If school leaders have a working knowledge of the possible claims which could be brought against the school they can take steps to limit their liability where incidents of cyber bullying do occur.Catrin Llewellyn is a Solicitor at leading City law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP.  Contact: catrin.llewellyn@ rpc.co.uke-Learning Today.Subscribe"
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Digital Learning

Cyber bullying of teachers – a growing problem for schools?

4 Sep 2009

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      string(313) "... target intototal despair.This is why it’s important to see bullying, not just from the target’s point of view,but also from the perpetrator’s point of view. It is only when we employ this level ofunderstanding that we can stop the rot.Bullying profilesRecently, it came to ..."
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      string(5725) "62Vol 5.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comInclusionBullyingToo many young people are becoming the targets of bullies bothin the classroom and online. Dr Lynda Shaw explores howworking with bullies, their victims and those around them canbuild self-esteem, develop mutual respect and bring an end tobullying in a creative, non-violent way.Almost half (46 per cent) of children and young people say that theyhave been bullied at school at some point in their lives1. The NSPCCwebsite reports that 38 per cent of young people have been affected bycyberbullying and 18 per cent of children and young people who are worriedabout bullying said they would not talk to their parents about it2. Research from theDiana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme found that eight out of ten youngpeople believe cyberbullying is getting worse.3Statistics like this are just the tip of the iceberg. Children are experiencing bullyingin the playground, at home and via the internet, with increasingly tragic consequences– targets often underachieve at school or work, become isolated, develop anxietyand depression, and in extreme cases, have been driven to end their own lives. Manyperpetrators grow into adult bullies who continue to target work colleagues, partnersand their own children.Bullying is always totally unacceptable and it is too awful to contemplate that notonly do many of our children not feel safe at school, they may also have problemsWorkingwith bulliesand theirvictims63Vol 5.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comInclusionBullyingwhen they are using their computers in their own home. However, some childrendo not realise their unkind behaviour is bullying. They have no idea how much harmthey’re causing and they do not have a clue that their actions can drive the target intototal despair.This is why it’s important to see bullying, not just from the target’s point of view,but also from the perpetrator’s point of view. It is only when we employ this level ofunderstanding that we can stop the rot.Bullying profilesRecently, it came to my attention that an eight-year-old boy was being bullied atschool. When I spoke to the deputy head about this, he was shocked. He said, ‘but thatmakes no sense, this lad is good looking, sporty and definitely not a geek. He’s not thetype to be bullied.’ This is not an unusual comment. Furthermore, I estimate that one infour teachers do not recognise even so called ‘light’ bullying and only intervene aroundfive per cent of the time.Children who are bullied are often kind, have a high level of empathy and sense offair play. They have a well-developed level of understanding and forgiveness and rarelycomplain to teachers or parents that there is a problem. These qualities are seen as aweakness by bullies and render the target vulnerable, as the bully instinctively knowsthey will try to be reasonable and avoid retaliation.The profile of a bully is one of low self-esteem, jealousy and distorted views ofothers. Sometimes a bully comes from a dysfunctional background or abuse, butthere are plenty of children who endure such hardships who do not take to bullying.Therefore, bullying is a choice.Both these profiles will continue into adulthood unless we as adults can encourageself-awareness, understanding and responsibility. It is therefore important that allmembers of staff and parents work together on an agreed code of conduct and plan.No parent wants their child to be either a target or perpetrator, so if approachedcorrectly, most will agree a strategy. Once this is in place, it is wise to offer regularupdates so that all parties can see continuity and progress.Get the whole class involved!To begin, we need to show the perpetrator that their behaviour is painful and cruel.In some cases, they may think that they are just teasing or being funny especiallywhen rewarded with laughter from classmates. Therefore, the whole class needs to beinvolved in prosocial behaviour activities and lessons. Role-playing is an excellent wayof encouraging empathy and understanding of others.One of the tactics a bully employs is to divide and isolate the target, so it’s vital thatthe rest of the class is aware of their own responsibility when this situation arises. It ishowever, a lot to ask other children to stand up against a bully, but they are more likelyto support the target thus discouraging the perpetrator’s behaviour.When it is the turn of the perpetrator playing the role of the target in one of thesupervised lessons, the realisation of what it feels like to be on the receiving end is verypowerful. It is often said that we rarely remember what people say or do, but we alwaysremember how they made us feel. Therefore, even while acting we can stimulatehow it feels when someone is unkind to us. This may not be enough however, as theperpetrator may simply feel hurt and not relate this to what they do to the target in theplayground or lunch room. It is at this point that guided group discussions can help.If the perpetrator then realises that their bullying behaviour is wrong, they may feeleven worse about themselves. Remember that bullies have low self-esteem anyway, sosupporting the child with encouragement when they do things well is vital now. Again,this can be done in a group situation. I remember watching a class of children sittingin a circle. Each child took it in turns to sit in the middle. One at a time, the childrenaround the edge threw a ball at the person in the centre and told them something theyliked about them. The child in the middle then threw the ball to"
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      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(4) {
        [0]=>
        string(5) "cyber"
        [1]=>
        string(9) "bullyings"
        [2]=>
        string(7) "victims"
        [3]=>
        string(12) "perpetrators"
      }
    }
    ["categories"]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(10) "Leadership"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Leadership

Working with bullies and their victims

10 Feb 2014