ONE IN FOUR ARE BULLIED AT SCHOOL

Joan Collins ONE in every four pupils suffers harassment or violence at school. There doesn't seem to be much difference in this between state and private schools, according to figures from a study which also says that 60 percent of the attackers go on to commit a crime before the age of 24. The study “School violence and harassment in Spain” was directed by Araceli Onate, director of the Institute of Educational Innovation, and Iñaki Piñuel, Professor of the University of Alcala and director of “Mobbing Research” (harassment investigation). The study reveals that the risk of suffering harassment at school is four times more for children between seven and eight years old, and that it reduces progressively as children get older, the least being between pupils of 16 to 18 years. Curiously enough, at this stage the percentage of harassment at school (around 11 percent) is the same as harrassment found in other places, such as the home and workplace. The report is based on a sample of 25'000 pupils in 14 regions (all except Valencia, the Balearics and La Rioja) which, according to its authors, makes it the biggest study of this type in Europe. Piñuel and Onate explained that the concept of harrassment at school includes all types of aggression and physical injuries (10 percent of cases), such as psychological violence which includes verbal abuse, threats, and intimidation, and warned of the physical and psychological damage which these could cause. The authors of the study warned that from the analysis of the questionnaires filled in by the pupils they concluded that 250'000 had suffered “very intense” harassment or violence, and that half of them, as a result, have psychological problems (which include suicidal tendencies) and could carry these into their adult lives and therefore be more vulnerable to other types of harassment. Iñaki Piñuel warned against the “trivialisation” of psychological violence, referring to the denial of this problem by some institutions, parents and teachers, and against cliches such as “children do that” or “it's an isolated case” or “they have to learn to cope with life”, and denounced the common error of saying that the victim brought it on themselves. Harassment is greater among boys (24.4 percent) than girls (21.6 percent) and the highest rates have been detected in Andalucia (27.7 percent), the Basque Country and Navarre (25.6 percent).