Preventing School Bullying of Children with Special Educational Needs or Disability Report

The National Disability Authority contributed to the Anti-Bullying Working Group established by the Minister for Education and Skills in 2012.

The working group developed a plan to combat bullying in schools. We contributed to this work by investigating anti-bullying support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

We carried out:

• A literature review on bullying and anti-bullying interventions in schools. In particular anti-bullying interventions for disabled children

• Visits to primary, post-primary and schools for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. These schools were suggested by contacts in the Education Sector as possibly demonstrating good practice

• Discussions with experts on how to tackle school bullying, including the bullying of children with disabilities

• Post-primary data analysis on bullying and disability from the Growing Up in Ireland Study

The five guiding principles

The research proposed five guiding principles to underpin a framework for schools to ensure that their school becomes a place where staff and children are happy and safe.

• Principle 1: A rights-based approach to protect children from bullying to govern and underpin principles and practices
• Principle 2: Systemic interventions
• Principle 3: Inclusive processes
• Principle 4: Education and training
• Principle 5: Leadership training and communication