Updated 3.20pm with ministry statement

A twofold increase in bullying in State schools over four years is more likely to be the result of greater awareness than a higher incidence of this form of abuse.

Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre gave this interpretation when asked for her reaction to official figures released on Wednesday by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo when replying to a parliamentary question tabled by Nationalist MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici.

It transpired that, last year, the number of reports filed with the Anti-Bullying Services within the Education Ministry totalled 423, up from 273 in 2015. The rise was no fluke, as there has been a steady increase from at least 2013 when the number of reported cases (212) were half those registered in 2016.

Victim Support Malta, a non-governmental organisation, provides support and assistance to victims of crime, including harassment, bullying and discrimination.

“The increase in reports results from an improved understanding of the various types of behaviours that constitute bullying and the confidence to report, rather than an increase in bullying incidents per se,” Dr Lepre said.

She pointed out that the spike in the number of reported cases coincided with a Victim Support Malta campaign launched last year. “It appears that our campaign was successful in motivating students to come forward and ask for help and support,” she noted.

The increase in reports results from an improved understanding of the various types of behaviours that constitute bullying and the confidence to report

Research carried out by the NGO indicated that the number of students claiming to have been bullied was much higher than the number of incidents reported in years gone by.

Commenting on the way forward, Dr Lepre said that more investment was required to ensure that school administrators were able to handle the increasing number of reports.

She also called for holistic training for students, teachers and parents to promote a healthier and safer school environment based on tolerance and respect.

Meanwhile, an EU report on bullying prevention and violence in schools published yesterday concluded that there was a higher prevalence of abuse among boys in most countries. It also transpired that bullying perpetrator rates increased significantly between the age of 11 and 15.

The report warns that the most vulnerable are children from minority and migrant backgrounds, LGBTI students and those with individual educational needs.

Carmel Cefai, from the Faculty for Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta, who was one of the co-authors of the study, recently presented its findings to the European Parliament during a seminar in Brussels.

In a statement this afternoon, the Education Ministry said a number of initiatives taken in the last few years have left the desired impact. Certain social challenges, which were ultimately the source of bullying, were also being addressed.

In 2015 alone, the ministry engaged 65 practitioners to act as support to schools. Educational and preventative programmes are also being carried out, leading to more reports of bullying. 

What is bullying?

■ Bullying involves physical, verbal and relational behaviours, which involves one party having the intention to repeatedly hurt or harm another within an uneven power relationship where the victim is unable to defend him/herself.

What forms can it take?

■ Such behaviours may take the form of physical abuse, threats of physical harm, name calling, teasing as well as verbal attacks on the student’s family, culture, race or religion or even ostracising or isolating somebody.

What are its impacts?

■ Victims are likely to experience low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and in some case suicidal thoughts. Bullied students have also been linked to lower academic achievement and other behaviours such as disengagement, absenteeism and early school leaving.

*Source: Downes P.; Cefai, C., How to Prevent and Tackle Bullying and School Violence: Evidence and Practices for Strategies for Inclusive and Safe Schools, NESET II report, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016. doi: 10.2766/0799