Over half of 9 to 13-year-olds bullied at school
More than half of children between the ages of 9 and 13 have faced bullies at school, according to a survey by No Ties among over a thousand Dutch kids in this age group. The frequency of bullying varied from a few times a month to several times a week, with over 10 percent saying they were bullied daily, NOS reports.
14 percent of respondents said that they are still being bullied. Most children say their teacher is not aware of it. Bullied children report feeling sad, depressed or angry about it.
Most of the children who said that they have been bullied, have spoken to adults who are aware of the situation. In two-thirds of the cases, other children are also aware that those children get bullied. About a quarter of bullied kids said that they are not sure whether anyone knows about it.
Not all children have the courage to talk about this problem. Slightly less than half of the children who are currently bullied, took the step to talk an adult about it. A third discussed it with both children and adults. A very small group talked it out with other children only.
There are also children who won’t talk to anyone about being bullied. They are either afraid that the bullying will get worse or that talking to others won’t help them, according to the researchers. A quarter (mostly boys) hope it will go away on its own and others are ashamed of it. When asked whether talking helps, a large majority say 'a little' or 'yes'.
A massive 80 percent of children said that they would like more lessons on bullying. Over half said that hey need help to stop bullying.
According to bullying expert Tessa Kaufman of the University of Groningen, bullies know how to get away with it. They target other kids when the teacher is not present or not looking, she said to NOS.
"Fortunately, we see that more and more is being done against it. Effective anti-bullying programs, such as KiVa, PRIMA and Taakspel can already help a lot. But that does not mean that we should be satisfied with that: bullying must stop for everyone,” Kaufman said to NOS.
The Netherlands' Week Against Bullying started on Monday, 21 September. This year's theme is Together against bullying.
