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Coalition government updates
The current government advice on preventing
and tacking bullying was published in July 2011:
DfE (2011), Preventing and tackling bullying: Advice for School
Leaders and Governing Bodies
The
Importance of Teaching, The Schools White Paper 2010, sets
plans for the future of education in England. Chapter 3.
Behaviour includes specific information on bullying
including an expectation that head teachers will:
- establish a culture of respect and safety, with zero tolerance
of bullying, clear boundaries, good pastoral care and early
intervention to address problems (para 3.4)
- take a strong stand against bullying - particuarly
prejudice-based racist, sexist and homophobic bullying (para
3.6)
The government also commit to:
- focusing Ofsted inspections more strongly on behaviour and
safety, including bullying, as one of four key areas of inspection
(para 3.6)
- issue statutory guidance to extend headteachers' powers to
punish school pupils who misbehave on their way to or from school
(3.17)
- reduce signficantly the amount of central guidance given to
schools overall...rationalise and simplify(...) to around 20 pages
(3.21)
- work with non-organisations such as Stonewall and the
Anti-bullying Alliance to promote best practice and make sure that
schools know where to go for support (3.21)
The Equality Strategy - Building a Fairer Britain, December
2010 outlines the coalition government approach to
equality. In relation to bullying this includes:
- work with anti-bullying organisations with a proven track
record of tackling prejudice-based bullying, to support schools in
tackling all forms of bullying, including homophobic and
transphobic bullying .