Scotland’s HM Inspectors of Education have published a new report looking at how bullying is reported and monitored across primary, secondary and special schools throughout Scotland.

During September and October 2022, HM Inspectors visited 35 schools across all local authorities. Engaging with teachers, learners and parents they invited views on the approaches used by schools when addressing alleged incidents of bullying.

Bullying behaviour has a profound impact on the learning potential and wellbeing of children and young people and while all school leaders recognised the value of recording occurrences of bullying, inconsistencies were found in ways they were being recorded and monitored.

In around a third of schools, senior leaders did not have a ‘whole school’ process in place for monitoring incidents of bullying, making it difficult to identify patterns and trends across the school, therefore limiting proactive interventions by staff.

Education Scotland’s HM Chief Inspector of Education, Gayle Gorman said: “While schools using systematic approaches for recording and monitoring reported a reduction in bullying, our review highlights that this is not yet consistent across all schools. There is now a real need to improve how this is being done to ensure our children and young people feel safe, protected and listened to.”

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