Prague, Sept 23 (CTK) – Almost a half of Czech primary schools and 60 percent od secondary schools dealt with bullying in 2012-2015, which in most cases had the form of verbal attacks, the Czech School Inspection has found out in a poll conducted at all schools in the country.
Though indecent conduct of students towards teachers is more frequent than in the past, the cases of real bullying of teachers are very rare, the inspection says.
The schools filled in electronic forms on bullying in March and April. The inspection monitored the situation in the past three school years, that is from 2012/2013 to 2014/2015.
In this period, the share of secondary schools facing bullying was higher than that of primary schools, but the average number of bullying cases at secondary schools was lower.
However, the number of primary schools dealing with bullying problems has been rising.
While in the school year 2013/2014, less than one-third of primary shools reported bullying, in 2014/2015 it was about two-fifths. In the past two schools years, bullying appeared in 32 percent of secondary schools.
Both at primary and secondary schools, verbal attacks, such as offences, humiliation and name-calling, prevailed, followed by cyberbullying, that is attacks through modern technologies, for instance on social networks.
Physical violence is considerably more frequent at primary schools where almost a half of aggressors used it, while at secondary schools it was less than one-fifth.
The inspection has appreciated the strategies of schools apply to tackle bullying and that are usually efficient.
However, some schools still lack a general formula that all teachers can follow to prevent or identify bullying.
The inspection would welcome it if parents more participated in preventive activities. At present, some 60 percent of primary schools and 20 percent of secondary schools have parents involved in bullying prevention.
The inspection also pointed to some shortcomings, for instance, that the work of prevention methodology experts at schools is often not remunerated and they have the same number of teaching hours as other teachers.
The inspection also recommends that schools strictly use the methodical recommendations of the Education Ministry that were recently updated.
Bullying and a safe school environment are the major topics of new School Ombudsman Slavek Hrzal for this school year.
hol/dr/pv
