Today is December 1st and for most of our school communities, the holiday season is one full of joy and excitement. Unfortunately, this nice holiday experience will not reach every student.
Our schools are vibrant, innovative and, above all, inclusive learning places for most children and young people. But for some, bullying remains an unacceptable reality.
This is unfortunately the case, despite the best efforts of everyone within the education sector.
Since the publication of our last action plan in 2013, school communities have changed and evolved significantly.
Our classrooms are now, to their advantage, increasingly diverse in composition. Our country has also embraced a digital revolution, putting the internet in everyone’s hands.
The world of social media has opened a new digital frontier.
Long before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was clear that the online and offline lives of children and young people and their families were becoming increasingly intertwined, in many cases blurred.
It is our job as a society to meet these challenges.
When Unesco published its Whole Education Approach to Preventing and Addressing Bullying in Schools in 2020, it listed nine components that can help effectively reduce bullying and cyberbullying. We must ensure that these are a reality in Irish society.
Earlier this year, I commissioned a steering committee led by Dr Noel Purdy from Stranmillis University College, Belfast, to review and update the Department of Education’s 2013 Action Plan on Bullying.
Thanks to the dedicated work of the Steering Committee, we are today able to launch “Cineáltas” (“Kindness”), the department’s updated anti-bullying action plan.
This new plan is based on the 2019 Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework of Practice, Unesco’s Whole Education Approach, as well as national and international research and best practices. It takes into account the experiences of the members of the steering committee, as well as the diversity of students participating in focus groups, and manages to put students at the center of the action plan.
Practical and inclusive, Cineáltas features a wide range of actions that help us all work together towards a diverse, inclusive Irish society free from bullying in all its forms and where individual differences are valued and celebrated.
Our vision is to provide schools with the tools needed to address and address cyberbullying, racism, bullying based on gender identity or sexual harassment, among others.
Schools should create an accessible school culture and values statement – a Cineáltas Charter – that sets out each school’s culture and values in an age-appropriate manner.
The department will support schools in developing and implementing this statement with input from the entire school community – including student support teams who will facilitate student participation and voice in all aspects of the work.
There will also be a recognition process – a Cineáltas flag for schools promoting measures to specifically prevent and address bullying.
The department will also continue to roll out and expand a postgraduate qualification for post-primary SPHE (social, personal and health education) teachers.
The program will help equip them with the content knowledge, confidence and skills to plan and deliver SPHE and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and facilitate student learning relevant to all aspects of the specification , including preventing and addressing bullying.
Work will continue with the DCU Anti-Bullying Center to ensure that Fuse’s anti-bullying and online safety programs are available and promoted in schools.
We will also move forward with the development of a national database to facilitate anonymous data collection to facilitate the development of an annual report on bullying in our schools.
The number of psychologists of the National Educational Psychology Service (NEPS) within the school sector will be expanded and proactive measures will be taken to promote the study of educational psychology.
Most importantly, the department is committed to providing our school communities with the tools necessary to provide a safe 21st century school environment where no one feels alone or afraid to speak out.
The hashtag #BeKind has become popular worldwide and has become a mantra for a generation of us young students.
We know that our school staff work hard to build students’ confidence in their own abilities and encourage them to build strong, lasting relationships with their classmates.
However, more needs to be done if we are to meet the challenges of living in the 21st century. The publication of Cineáltas begins the journey.
This action plan will help children and young people understand the importance of involving others and knowing what to do if you or someone else is being bullied.
Cineáltas is about nurturing a spirit of inclusiveness from an early age, where every child knows that kindness and empathy are just as important as algebra and reading.
It provides a roadmap for all of our school communities to ensure that kindness is extended to all of our students, without exception, because actions really should be stronger than words.
Norma Foley TD is Secretary of Education