Most bullied children don't seek help from teachers, study finds
The vast majority, 70 percent, of children who are bullied at school don’t tell their teacher. 30 percent don’t tell anyone at all, not even at home, according to a new study by Nico den Breejen of the education platform Wij-leren and Nathalie Hoekstra of Radboud University, AD reports.
Bullied children don’t seek adult intervention because of insecurities about the bullying being their fault - “maybe I’m weird” - combined with doubts, fear that the bullies will find out, and little confidence that anything will be done, the researchers found.
And that can have severe consequences. The most well-known are a negative self-image, sleep problems, and poor performance at school. “But what we also saw is that students who have been bullied produce extra stress hormones, which can remain elevated well into adulthood. Bullied students are also two to three times more likely to experience depression and eleven times more likely to be lonely,” Den Breejen told the newspaper.
The researchers acknowledge that it is not always easy for teachers to see everything that’s happening in the classroom. According to Den Breejen, schools often still have a too one-sided view of bullying. “Many teachers do their utmost. But people still think too often in terms of ‘perpetrator’ and ‘victim.’ In reality, the roles are less defined. A student who is bullied can become a bully themselves.”
“Bullying is always a group process: it becomes more likely when it is seen as ‘normal’ or even ‘cool’ in a classroom. That group climate creates the breeding ground for bullying,” Den Breejen said. According to him, one of the most powerful things a teacher can do is build “a positive dynamic throughout the school year.” Create the feeling that the class is a team and there for one another.
“With teenagers, it’s always more complicated. But if it's emphasized in primary school, at least a good foundation is in place,” he told the newspaper.
