Bullying in Milan. Survey about school bullying in primary and lower secondary schools that joined the project “stop bullying” – March 2004

Iannacone N., Colombo F., Di Domizio S., Veronesi I.

ASL di Milano

Italian

English

Definition – school – roles – data - consequences

Report

Parents, Policy Makers, Teachers, Researchers, Young People, School Directors.

21 - 100 pages

The article deals with the bullying phenomenon which is defined an aggressive behavior characterized by three different factors: intent or aggressiveness carried out intentionally; regularity and repeated abuse; asymmetry of power because among the parties involved there is a difference in age and physical strength. The victim experiences a sense of weakness and inferiority and feels inadequate. Recent studies have identified several forms of bullying: direct bullying happens when the physical strength is used to cause harm to other people, while indirect bullying occurs when specific attitudes are not directly addressed to the victim; verbal bullying happens when words are used to cause harm to the victim. School bullying led students to take upon several roles: bullies, supporters, upholder, third person, victim. The research carried out in Milan considering more than 10,000 students and 59 schools urges that this phenomenon is really widespread both in primary and in lower secondary schools and that the number of students involved reaches the 64% in primary schools and the 50% in lower secondary schools. It is stated that half of the group of teachers have difficulties in identifying bullying and that parents are not able to speak profitably to their children and to find out and adopt adequate intervention strategies.

It is necessary to foresee preventive programs apt to promote relationship skills with the aim of respecting ourselves and the others especially in the primary school. The survey states that the real experts of bullying are actually teenagers: they are able to identify the features and the peculiarities of the phenomenon and are aware of what happens in class, but they are not able to intervene. Preventive intervention programs must take into consideration the role of information and specific programs addressed to adults, the integration of several professional roles and the presence of parents.

Don Milani