TEACHERS should be "shocked" by the results of the first nationwide survey on bullying in schools, according to Dr Mona O'Moore, co ordinator of the newly established Anti Bullying Resource and Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin, and author of the study.
Dr O'Moore pointed to findings, published at the weekend, which show that one in 20 primary schoolchildren is victimised once a week while the figure is one in 50 at post primary level.
"Out of our total school going population of 870,000, we have 25,000 primary school children and 7,400 post primary pupils whose education is not only undermined and diluted in quality but who are suffering from a real sense of despair, hurt, social isolation and hopelessness," she said.
Dr O'Moore was speaking at an international conference on bullying which was opened in TCD by the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, at the weekend.
One of the most shocking and depressing aspects, she said, was that the results showed that more than half (depending on their age) suffer in silence without telling their teachers, unable to speak of their predicament and thus unable to receive the much needed adult support.
She said that while there were many reasons why young people were reluctant to tell, one was their lack of confidence in an adult's ability to help. Teachers must be effective in dealing with reports of bullying she said.
She also said a significant percentage of the self identified bullies who answered the survey's questionnaire said no teacher had spoken to them about their bullying. And, in keeping with earlier research, it was found that boys are bullied more often than girls in Irish schools.
"In our national sample, we found that children who bullied had significantly lower self esteem than children who were not involved in bullying," she said. Many of these children had particularly inadequate feelings in relation to their intellectual and school status.
The survey also indicated at bullying peaks in the second year of post primary.
The study was carried out during the 1993/1994 school year. It was hoped the results would be published In book form next year, Dr O'Moore said. Some 530 schools were involved, comprising 320 primary and 210 secondary. This represented 10 per cent of all primary schools and 27 per cent of all post primary.
Children from eight years of age in primary school up to sixth year were given questionnaires which included room for comment.
"I appreciate that schools need more resources to cope with behavioural difficulties, such as an expanding school psychological service, but there is still nonetheless much a school can do by simply tightening the nuts and bolts," said Dr O'Moore. "There are still schools in Ireland that are burying their heads in the sand," she added.
She pointed to the importance of a school's code of discipline, as recommended in the Department of Education's National Guidelines on Countering Bullying in Primary and Post Primary Schools. This, she said, was sometimes disregarded but it could go a long way in preventing and reducing the level of bullying behaviour.
Some 400 people attended the conference and included many school principals, teachers and educationalists.
Other speakers at the conference included Prof Dan Olweus, of the University of Bergen, Norway; Prof Peter Smith of Goldsmith College, London; and Mr Delwyn Tallum, the director of the Countering Bullying Unit at Cardiff Institute of Higher Education.
Mr Brendan Byrne, a leading authority on bullying in Ireland, also spoke, as did Prof Erling Roland, director of the Behavioural Research Centre in Stavanger, Norway, Prof Ken Rigby, of the University of South Australia, Adelaide, and Mr Andrew Mellow, the Anti bullying Development Officer for Scotland.