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2007/04 Are schools doing sufficient to discourage cyber bullying?<BR>

2007/04 Are schools doing sufficient to discourage cyber bullying?


What they said ...
'Cyber bullying is much worse because it's 24/7 and they[victims of bullying] can't escape it. It's also insidious because teachers find it hard to monitor the signs if it takes place outside of school hours.'
Kate McCaffrey, a former Perth secondary teacher

'Bullying in any form, including the use of technology, is not tolerated in NSW public schools. Schools have the power to implement strong sanctions against students whose behaviour threatens the safety and wellbeing of other students or staff. Principals can place students on suspension for up to four days for transmitting abuse electronically by email or SMS'
Meredith Jones, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Training

The issue at a glance
In October 2006 it was extensively reported that a 17-year-old, developmentally-delayed girl, attending a Melbourne high school, was lured over an MSN Internet chat service to a meeting with two boys, only to be surrounded by a mob that filmed her subsequent abuse and broadcast the results on YouTube (an American-based site for sharing video material online) and on DVD.
Though the potential offences involved extend far beyond what is normally referred to as bullying, the cyber-dimension of this apparent assault have disturbed many commentators.
The episode has been condemned not only for the physical and sexual assault the girl suffered but because her abuse was then circulated using the Internet. This additional exploitation of the girl's victimisation has led to a media discussion of the measures that schools should take to reduce cyber-bullying.

Background
What is Cyber Bullying?
(The Australian federal government together with Net Alert Limited has given the following definition of cyber bullying. The site where this definition can be found is http://www.netalert.net.au/print.asp?file=/02999-March-2006-Internet-Safety-Newsletter.asp#feature)
Cyber bullying is a form of bullying which occurs on the Internet through things such as email, chat rooms, instant messaging, on web sites or by sending text messages via mobile phones.
The bullying may be teasing, starting online fights (flaming), spreading rumours, harassment, sending unwanted messages, sending threatening emails or excluding others from online friendship groups.
Cyber bullies can be individuals or groups of people including friends or strangers, school cliques, class groups, members of chat or discussion groups or people who use online diaries or social networking web sites.
Cyber bullies use technology because they can attack their victims anonymously at any time of the day.

(A more extensive definition of bullying generally and cyber-bullying in particular was supplied by Dr Marilyn Campbell, School of Learning and Professional
Studies, Queensland University of Technology. Her comments can be found at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001925/01/1925.pdf The following is a slightly edited version of Dr Campbell's account.)
Bullying is an age-old societal problem, beginning in the schoolyard and often progressing to the boardroom. It may be defined as the abusive treatment of a person by means of force or coercion. It is aggressive behaviour that is repeated over time, is intentionally harmful and occurs without provocation. Bullying may be physical, including behaviours such as hitting, punching and spitting, or it may involve
language that is browbeating using verbal assault, teasing, ridicule, sarcasm and scapegoating. It involves a minimum of two people, one the perpetrator and the
other the victim. However, a large number of people may be involved in an indirect manner as an audience. These bystanders may be other students who witness the bullying event but remain uninvolved. They are frequently afraid of becoming the next victim if they do interfere. They often feel powerless and show a loss of self-respect and self-confidence.
In recent years however, a new form of bullying has emerged which makes use of the diverse range of technology that is now available. Cyber bullying, as coined by Canadian Bill Belsey, or bullying using technology, is a phenomenon that children and adolescents seem to be increasingly using to harm others. Cyber bullying using
email, text, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras and web sites, is surfacing as a new medium used by bullies. Methods include texting derogatory messages on mobile phones, with students showing the message to others before sending it to the target; sending threatening emails, and forwarding a confidential email to all address book contacts, thus publicly humiliating the first sender. Others gang up on one student and bombard him/her with 'flame' emails. Another way to cyber bully is to set up a derogatory web site dedicated to a targeted student
and emailing others the address, inviting their comments. In addition, web sites can be set up for others to vote on the biggest geek, or sluttiest girl in the school.
In one widely reported incident, a self-made film of a 15-year-old Quebec boy emulating a Star Wars fight was posted on the Internet by his classmates. Millions of people downloaded the film, with the media dubbing him the Star Wars Kid . In another incident an overweight boy was photographed by a mobile phone camera in the school change room and the picture posted on the Internet. Cyber bullying can also be carried out in chat rooms with the participants slagging a targeted student or continually excluding someone.

Internet information
Net Alert Limited (NetAlert) is Australia's Internet safety advisory body. NetAlert is a not-for-profit organisation established in late 1999 by the Australian government to provide independent advice and education on managing access to online content.
It works closely with Commonwealth and state agencies, particularly the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the Internet industry and community organisations in order to promote Internet safety
Net Alert's Internet site can be found at http://www.netalert.com.au/01569-what-is-cyber-bullying.asp?qid=10387

The Victorian Department of Education and Training's Internet site gives a definition of bullying, including cyber-bullying and outlines what Victorian schools must do in order to address the problem. This information can be found at http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/wellbeing/safeschools/bullying/defbullying.htm

On May 26, 2006, the Tasmanian Minister for Education, David Bartlett, issued a media release outlining his government's response to a recent review of anti-bullying practices in the state. Though the minister's response is quite positive about what schools in his state are doing, it acknowledges that more needs to be done. The release makes no special reference to cyber bullying. The media release can be found at http://www.education.tas.gov.au/minister/ministerialreleases/Release-BullyingReview.doc

The Tasmanian Education Department's Positive Behaviours strategy can be found at http://www.education.tas.gov.au/school/educators/support/positivebehaviour
It makes no reference to cyber bullying.

In 2005 Dr Marilyn Campbell's article, 'Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise?' was published in the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling 15(1):68-76.
The article outlines both the nature and the consequences of the problem and considers the adequacy of schools' attempts to deal with it.
The article can be read at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001925/01/1925.pdf

Arguments suggesting schools are doing enough to discourage cyber bullying
1. Cyber bullying is a very difficult problem to deal with
Cyber bullying does not involve physical attacks or in-person verbal assaults. This makes it difficult to trace to its perpetrators and stop. Young people may well be abused, humiliated and intimidated by nameless others whom they do not know how to identify or respond to.
Those studying the phenomena have suggested that the words exchanged online are often harsher than those spoken in person because of the anonymity offered by computers. The messages often fall beyond the reach of administrators, and online services lock out only the most drastic cases.
In an article published in The Age on October 28, 2006, Larissa Dubecki stated, 'Technology has turned the traditional image of the bully waiting at the school gates on its head. Now a 24-hour, wireless, faceless, version 2.0 of the school bully hides behind text messages, MySpace, YouTube and social networking sites.
The perpetrator can choose to remain anonymous but the victim's humiliation is compounded by the often very public nature of the bullying.'
In the same article it was noted, 'Researchers in Australia and worldwide have discovered forums where students vote for the ugliest, fattest or most hated person in school. Bullies use email, instant messaging, chat rooms, mobile phone cameras, text and websites. They aim to humiliate by altering photos and text on MySpace pages; they hack into victims' accounts and pose as them, sometimes locking the victim out of their own account.'
Mr Christopher Daunt Watney, the principal of SCECGS Redlands on Sydney's north shore, has similarly stated, 'Electronic means have the potential to be more insidious and less easy to detect than some of the more obvious forms of bullying that most of us are familiar with in all places.'
Adolescent psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, has further noted, 'At school, if you are bullied you can tell a teacher but in this environment there is no one to talk to ... It is more damaging than normal school bullying and more difficult to stop.'

2. State Education Departments are acting on the issue
In Victoria cyber bullying is listed as one of a number of types of indirect bullying. All Victorian schools are required to have policies in place to counter all forms of bullying. The Victorian Department of Education and Training states on the issue, 'Bullying behaviour in schools should be addressed as part of a school's duty of care to provide a safe and supportive school environment.
All schools are required to develop and implement a Student Code of Conduct that identifies goals and standards for student behaviour.
The Student Code of Conduct must include safe school and specific anti-bullying strategies that aim to promote positive student behaviour, prevent anti-social behaviour, and encourage respect, compassion and cooperation. To effectively prevent bullying, schools need to take a whole-school approach that focuses on safety and wellbeing throughout all school practices.'
Similarly in 2004 the South Australian government began working to crack down on bullying in schools with its introduction of a special training package distributed to all state schools. The kit included guidelines for education workshops; for conducting and reporting student surveys on bullying; for developing anti-bullying policies; and for dealing with a whole range of bullying issues from racism to cyber-bullying. Information leaflets were also available for parents. All state schools were then required to have an anti-bullying policy in place within the next 18 months.
The NSW and Queensland governments have also recently introduced policies to deal specifically with cyber-bullying which require that students responsible be suspended or removed permanently from the school where their offence occurred.

3. Many individual schools are developing programs to deal with the problem.
There is evidence that many schools are taking action to address the problem of cyber bullying.
Melbourne's Methodist Ladies College (MLC), which has banned MySpace and YouTube, has recently updated its bullying policy to include cyber bullying. The
Principal OF MLC, Rosa Storelli, has noted that the school's policy was prompted by several incidents at the school. The policy was formulated with the help of students, many of whom were highly technologically aware.
Another school to take similar action has been Ivanhoe Girls Grammar school which was involved in a cyber bullying research initiative promoted by the anti-depression organisation Beyond Blue. The school is developing new policies as a result of its involvement.
All state schools, primary and secondary, are required to develop similar policies and take similar action in line with the directions issued by the various state education departments.
In Tasmania as of March 2006 62 schools Government schools had adopted the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Program, designed to combat bullying in all forms.

4. Cyber bullying is a problem that must also be addressed outside schools
Those who argue that schools are doing all the reasonably can to address the problem of cyber bullying generally go on to note the problem must also be addressed by parents, those who make the cyber technology available and perhaps also by governments.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg has urged that parents take an active role in monitoring their children's use of new technologies. He has stated that parents should make an effort to learn more about cyberspace and get involved with their kids' activities online because the potential for harm is so great.
Specifically Dr Michael Carr-Gregg has advised that parents never install a computer in a child's bedroom; discuss their children's instant messaging buddy list with them and talk to their children about cyber bullying.
The role of governments in combating cyber bullying is also of great importance. Governments have a major regulatory, co-ordinating and legislative role in this area. The establishment of Net Alert Limited is a recognition of this responsibility.
Net Alert Limited (NetAlert) is Australia's Internet safety advisory body. NetAlert is a not-for-profit community organisation established in late 1999 by the Australian government to provide independent advice and education on managing access to online content.
NetAlert's role includes providing users with sensible, helpful and reliable advice and information about potential problems, dangers and threats present on the Internet and ways in which users can act to minimise or avoid these problems.
It also works closely with Commonwealth and state agencies, particularly the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the Internet industry and community organisations in order to promote Internet safety

5. Cyber bullying is an aspect of much larger societal problems.
Those who defend the actions of schools as they attempt to address cyber bullying note that the problem did not originate with schools and cannot be irradiated by them. Instead, they argue, the problem reflects a general social shift in values and a loosing of social controls all of which will need to be addressed if the problem is going to be overcome.
Psychologist Elaine Field, author of Bully Busting, says this new kind of bullying is a viral phenomenon. 'If they think they can get away with it, they will do it ... But let's not just blame the kids. Let's look at the families and the communities - where are the kids picking up these despicable habits?'
In addition to a disturbing decline in the values that are being developed within young people, other social commentators have suggested that the pace of technological change has been so great that it has outstripped our capacity to deal with it in a reasonable and accountable manner.
The Age in its editorial of October 26, 2006, stated, 'Either the moral fabric of our society is fraying dangerously at the seams or, as is the more likely analysis, the dazzling attractions of cyberspace and new technologies can blur the ethical boundaries we navigate in the real world ... the pace of change is overwhelming and we struggle to catch up.'

Arguments suggesting the schools are not doing sufficient to discourage cyber bullying
1. Bullying in any form can have serious and life-long consequences
Bullying in any form has serious consequences. Students who are bullied have a greater likelihood of reduced school achievement, higher levels of school absenteeism, loss of self-esteem, loss of trust in others, dropping out of school, using drugs and alcohol and developing depression; 20% of all youth suicides are related to present or past bullying.
Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that being bullied can result in many common health problems such as headaches, stomach aches, trouble sleeping and bedwetting.
Some people may never get over childhood experiences. They may grow up with poorer self-esteem and higher rates of depression than adults who were not bullied as children.
The ringleaders who initiate bullying situations are more likely to become involved in anti-social behaviours, for example, 65% of students who bully others on an ongoing basis have a criminal conviction by the age of 24. They are also more likely to become involved in domestic abuse and physical abuse of their children.
Physical and mental health factors associated with being bullied include poorer health, greater feelings of ineffectiveness, difficulties with relationships, increased anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

2. Cyber bullying is a particularly serious form of bullying
According to Dr Marilyn Campbell, a psychologist and lecturer in learning and professional studies at the Queensland University of Technology, the effects of cyber bullying can be more pronounced and detrimental than traditional bullying because the victim feels there is less escape and the humiliation is more public because there is a feeling everybody in the world could know.
Dr Campbell has said technology has enabled the bully to remain anonymous from the victim and has changed the experience from a verbal and physical encounter to a situation where written taunts and threats are delivered to the victim through communication technology.
'When a bully actually says something really nasty to you, it's more ephemeral and the words kind of go into space. And even though you can remember the feeling you can't dwell on every word. But with cyber bullying there's actually a written impact, so that the victims are reading and re-reading what people have said about them,' Dr Campbell has noted.
Lara MacDonell, general operations manager of Net-Alert, an Internet safety advisory body established in 1999 by the federal government, has further stated, 'The anonymity makes it very frightening. The victims go to school and think, "Is it that girl who I am not friends with anymore? Is it that group of boys who snigger every time I walk past?" They just don't know and so they can't stop thinking about it. They analyse and analyse and analyse.
Cyber-bullying often occurs in the victim's own home. Traditional bullying takes place at school or in the neighbourhood, but few bullies would dare to harass their victims at home. Once upon a time, home was a safe haven, but that's no longer the case. One of the things that is so awful about cyber-bullying is that it can occur 24-7. In the past you'd go to school and you might get teased or picked on, but then you would go home and it would stop. You'd feel safe. But not any more. You can get abusive e-mail or text messages at home - at any time of the day or night.'

3. It is not sufficient to have anti-bullying policies, these policies must be effective
It has been stated by the Victorian Opposition that anti-bullying policies are not enough. These policies have to be effective. Ted Bailieu, the leader of the state opposition, has stated, 'While I appreciate that most of this [cyber bullying] occurs outside the school grounds and you cannot stop that, it still comes back into the school, so it is very important that the government is proactive rather than reactive.
It is a huge problem here. As the report states. The committee heard that the incidence of cyber bullying has increased. The fact that it has increased means that we need to do something now, before it is too late and before someone gets hurt, rather than trying to react to the problem.'
The state opposition is proposing the establishment of a 24-hour hot-line offering assistance to those who are the victims of cyber bullying. This has been proposed because the state opposition does not believe that current school policies are effective in stopping cyber bullying.

4. Many schools and individual teachers are not sufficiently media aware to take effective action
A number of specialists in the area of cyber bullying have expressed concern that schools and teachers may lack the knowledge and expertise to effectively counter this form of abuse. Dr Anne Bamford, the director of Visual Arts and a senior lecturer in interactive media at the University of Technology Sydney has stated, 'Teachers can often feel quite powerless in this environment. This feeling of hopelessness is exacerbated by the failure of laws and technology to effectively meet the challenge of cyber bullying ... Educators and parents who think that filters will protect adolescents from accidentally accessing inappropriate material need to think again!'
In 2004 a number of teachers at a New South Wales school were themselves the victims of cyber bullying. The site was too sophisticatedly established for school authorities to be able to identify who had set it up. A New South Wales Department of Education spokesman, Mark Davis, said, '[The school] hasn't been able to link what's on the website with an individual student or students.'
The need for teachers to become better informed about cyber technology is one of the reasons for the establishment of Net Alert Limited. Net Alert Limited has stated as part of its rationale, 'With technology it is often the children who are teaching the parents how to use the technology. What we're finding is the most computer literate person in the house might be the kid.
We're launching this campaign so we can look at how we can educate parents and teachers about how they can educate kids about being safe online.'

5. Many students believe their schools are unable to deal with the issue of cyber bullying
Research indicates that most bullying goes unreported because the victim or
witness have been threatened with retribution, fear they will not be believed,
feel to blame, and/or weak for not dealing with it effectively or believe that
nothing can be done to help and intervention will only make it worse. In the case of cyber bullying, it appears that students have even less confidence that responsible adults will deal with the problem effectively.
Many students apparently have little faith in their school's ability to deal with cyber bullying. They have equally little faith in individual teacher's ability to deal with the issue.
Dr Marilyn Campbell, School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology, has stated, 'The children think that parents and teachers absolutely know nothing. In fact one of the students said to us "well teachers couldn't even help because they don't even own a mobile phone". And another said "well teachers don't actually have an online life, so how could they possibly understand?"'
Dr Campbell further stated, '[Victims of bullying] do not have much faith that adults can solve the problem and fear that adults might make it worse ... cyber bullied students fear that adults will take the technology away from them, that they will lose their mobile phone or be forbidden to use the Internet. In the National Children's Home (2002) study, nearly 30% of cyber bullied students told no-one.'

Further implications
It would appear that governments, schools and Internet service and content providers are in only a relatively early stage of addressing cyber bullying. A number of state education departments while requiring the schools in their state to have policies addressing bullying do not seem to have recognised the serious additional dimension that cyber bullying represents. The federal Government's Net Alert appears to be a potentially worthwhile move to address the issue, however, it is still in the early stages of its operation and is concerned with information gathering rather than effective policy development.
This then raises the vexed question of the difference between policy and effective implementation. All state schools are meant to have policies in place to counter bullying. What is crucial is whether these policies work. This is at least as important with cyber bullying as it is with any other form of bullying.
Certainly, as Net Alert recognises, the policy begins to be addressed when schools, parents, children and the broader community becomes aware of the nature and extent of the problem and recognises that it is not acceptable.
To this end, the massive unfavourable publicity such as that recently received by a group of Victorian school students who put up on the Internet, via You Tube, a video of a developmentally delayed teenage girl being harassed and assaulted by a group of youths, can only serve to heighten public awareness and the demand that some constructive action be taken to discourage such incidents and their electronic dissemination.
However, the question has to be asked as to whether the problem can really be overcome largely by public awareness. One of the big emphases of Net Alert is to make schools and, in particular, parents aware of the dangers inherent on the Internet so that schools and parents can take appropriate action to protect young people and in turn make them aware of the dangers they face.
All of this seems to rely on individual responsibility as the principal means of controlling the risks associated with Internet use. It is a new variation on the old 'buyer beware' maxim.
What others are calling for is real regulation of the Internet to make it far harder for suspect material to be posted.
On November 25, 2006, the ABC reported that Italian prosecutors have put two Google Italy representatives under investigation as part of an inquiry into how a video of teenagers harassing an autistic classmate surfaced on its video site.
In Europe, Google is facing a growing number of legal challenges by plaintiffs seeking to enforce local laws that are trying to rein in the free flow of information on which the Internet relies.
United States law generally treats Google as a distributor of information rather than having editorial responsibility for the content that appears on its automated websites.
Italy's Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni said the prosecutors had been right to apply to the Internet the same legislation that in Italy regulates what can be published in newspapers or broadcast on television. Mr Fioroni argues that the Internet shared the same duty as other forms of media in distributing 'responsible' content.
It remains to be seen whether any sustained attempts will be made to apply such standards to the Internet in Australia which has already tried unsuccessfully to make Internet service providers responsible for what the disseminate.

Newspaper items used in the compilation of this issue outline
The Age
AGE, October 28, page 6, analysis (photos) by L Dubecki, `Technological trauma: cyber bullies more powerful than schoolyard thugs'.
AGE, October 28, Insight section, page 9, comment by Tracee Hutchison, `Life enters the twilight zone'.
AGE, October 28, Insight section, page 9, comment by Zoe Morrison, `Abuse: it's now entertainment'.
AGE, October 26, page 14, editorial, `The DVD that shocked a nation reveals some nasty truths'.
AGE, October 26, page 3, news item by R Switzer, `Bullying, abuse and suicide top list of teenage worries'.
AGE, October 25, page 2, news item by R Switzer, `Schoolyard bullies make ground on net'.
AGE, October 25, page 2, news item by S Smiles, `Web stranger-danger push'.
AGE, October 2, Education section, page 6, analysis by Margaret Cook, `Cyber bullies are wrecking lives'.

The Australian
AUST, November 13, page 5, news item by Verity Edwards, `Net link probed in teen suicides'.
AUST, October 26, page 3, news item by N Robinson, `DVD just a bit of fun, say students'.
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