Children as young as three are capable of bullying and many kindy teachers have no bullying training or policies to stop it, a ground-breaking new Australian study has found.

 

The findings of the Macquarie University study of nearly 200 early childhood educators who care for children aged 3-5 in childcare centres and kindergartens, will be presented in Melbourne tomorrow (Thursday)at the National Centre Against Bullying Conference – Beyond the Schoolyard.

The study found that 93 per cent of educators believe the children in their care are capable of bullying, whilst previously it was thought this behaviour was a normal part of child development.

Only 15 per cent have a voluntary anti-bullying policy to address the issue, with less than 10 per cent of the policies providing any intervention strategies to deal with bullying.

 

Study authors Ola Goryl and Dr Cathrine Neilsen-Hewitt from Macquarie University have called for formal anti-bullying policies in early childhood education under the National Quality Framework.

“There is no requirement for centres to have a bullying policy in place.  We need a greater commitment at a national level in terms of recognising that bullying can occur amongst young children and we need to look at how that reflects in terms of assessment and rating requirements,” Dr Neilsen-Hewett said.

The study also found that teachers did not feel confident to manage bullying, with diploma-qualified educators less able to identify bullying than those with tertiary qualifications.

Ms Goryl said there was a direct link between schools with anti-bullying policies and a reduction in bullying. 

“Early childhood educators need to be more informed as we have identified they are not confident to actually deal with bullying. There is no guidance, no policies and no-one knows what to do,” Ms Goryl said.

“This is a really important issue as bullying has a detrimental impact on learning and development at such a young age. A child may enter school not being able to communicate with other children because they are withdrawing and, as a result, not have many friends.”

“It can manifest in stomach aches and headaches and children may stop wanting to go to school. It’s very traumatising.” 

Dr Judith Slocombe, CEO of The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, said it was important for all childcare centres and kindergartens to put a specific bullying policy in place.

“In our experience working in schools across Australia, we know that bullying policies are an important step in creating an environment where bullying is appropriately dealt with. This is particularly important in pre-school settings, as we know that bullying has serious, long-term impacts and we need to catch this behaviour early,” she said

The NCAB Conference will bring together academics, policy makers, educators and principals, to share the latest research on strategies and solutions to help reduce the prevalence and impact of bullying and cyberbullying.

The theme of this year’s conference is Beyond the Schoolyard, recognising the fact that for the first time the conference will explore issues in settings outside of school, such as workplaces and sporting clubs, and will explore gender differences in bullying across all ages, from early childhood through to adulthood.

For further information, visit www.ncab.org.au.

 

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For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Hayley McNaughton on 0424 753 775 or Sam Patterson on 0402 266 709.