Stephen Williams MP Voices Concerns Regarding Bullying In Schools
November 12, 2007 2:25 PM
Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, Stephen Williams MP, has once again voiced his concerns about the current situation regarding bullying in schools. A recent survey conducted by Mencap has revealed that eight out of ten school children with learning difficulties have been bullied.
Stephen Williams MP commented:
"The profile of bullying must be raised. Focus is always on exam results and league tables. This is obviously important, but there is far too little discussion on child welfare."
"Too many pupils, teachers and parents have to deal with bullying everyday. It can ruin young people's lives, and often holds them back from their full potential."
"Whether it is cases of bullying children with learning disabilities, racism or homophobia; all of these issues are equally important, and this government has failed to tackle much of the problems."
Stephen Williams MP is a member of the Education and Skills select committee, and instigated the committee's first ever investigation into the problem of bullying.
"Every school should have a 'Bullying Mentor', a trained member of staff to counsel children who are victims of bullying. Joint action between pupils and teachers has to be taken to tackle these cases. Also, a reliable database needs to be created for each school, with each record of bullying having to be recorded. A reliable database would certainly make it easier to tackle the problem."
In the House of Commons debate on 17th October 2007, Stephen Williams MP stated that Mencap showed "not only that 82 per cent of people with a learning disability had experienced bullying, but that 60 per cent had been physically hurt by the bullying-it was not just taunting… The bullying of children with autism is the cruellest form of bullying simply because the bullied child might not realise that they are a victim of bullying and might not have the communication skills to convey the fact that they are a victim to their teachers or parents".
The speech can be found using this link:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-10-17a.901.0&m=1458#g918.0
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