A teachers guide to recognising and challenging online bullying

The Welsh Government defines bullying as:

“Behaviour by an individual or group, repeated over time that intentionally hurts others either physically or emotionally.”

Bullying can happen face-to-face or in the digital environment using technology. It can be carried out by an individual or group and may involve an element of secrecy so that adults are not aware of it.

What’s different about online bullying?

Technology facilitates traditional bullying behaviours such as insults or rumour-spreading. But it also provides new ways to bully or humiliate others. This includes the misuse of images or videos, live streaming, or using anonymous messaging apps to harass someone online.

One of the biggest differences between online and face-to-face bullying is that online bullying can be hard to get away from. Children and young people can be bullied anywhere, anytime – even when they’re at home. Online bullying is also unique because it:

can reach a vast audience in a matter of seconds
has the potential to draw in large numbers of people
takes ‘repetition’ to a different level, with hurtful comments and images being shared multiple times
has the potential to impact at any time of day or night
can offer a degree of anonymity to the perpetrators of the bullying.

Online bullying can be an extension of face-to-face bullying. Technology can provide an extra route to harass an individual or group. It can also be a way for someone being bullied face-to-face to retaliate. Sometimes the online bullying will be carried out by individuals or groups who are known to the person being bullied, but it can also involve people they’ve never met.

What are the impacts of being bullied?

Bullying can impact the health, well-being and self-confidence of those being bullied. Bullying may target someone’s appearance, their sexuality, a disability, their culture, religion, social status and other characteristics, some of which are protected by law. This can affect how learners feel about themselves.

Like other forms of bullying it can cause stress and anxiety, making it more difficult for learners to learn.

Recognising the signs of online bullying

Not all learners will speak up if they are being bullied. With online bullying, many children and young people will feel unable to confide in an adult because they feel ashamed and wonder whether they will be judged, told to ignore it or stopped from using technology, which they might not want to do.

You might notice changes in behaviour, as you would with face-to-face bullying. These could include:

becoming more withdrawn
isolating themselves from their peers
seeming more tired or distracted in lessons
not doing so well in school or college
wanting to miss school or college
avoiding using technology/becoming upset at using technology
loss of confidence.

Responding to bullying

If online bullying has been reported or identified, teachers should take action as soon as possible. You should make sure the learner is safe, and they are not at risk of immediate harm. This may include:

providing appropriate support for the person who has been bullied
helping to remove online material in order to prevent it circulating
working with the person who has carried out the bullying, and their parents or carers, when appropriate, to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

You should:

be sensitive. If bullying is taking place online it’s worth remembering that it could continue outside of school or college, when you are not there to support them. Be sensitive in your approach as they might have been dealing with this for a while
find someone they can talk to. Not every learner has an adult they feel they can trust, and sometimes parents or carers are the last people they want to tell. Be mindful of this when offering support. If you can see a learner is struggling but they don’t have someone to tell, let them know you can be that person for them. If they don’t feel comfortable talking to you, ask who they would like to talk to – give the control back to them
listen without judgement. The pressures on children and young people to behave in certain ways means that they might sometimes feel out of control. Focus on the core problem behaviour
look for practical steps. Help the learner feel empowered again. Ask them how they would like to resolve the issue. Encourage them to save any evidence or to report incidents to the technology platform, as bullying goes against most terms and conditions of use. Encourage them not to respond or reply to the bullying
tell them what you’ll do next. Explain who you need to tell about what’s happened, which might include other staff members, and parents and carers. This may also include involving your Designated Safeguarding Person, or in some cases the police, either directly using 101/999 (if there is immediate risk of harm) or through the School Community Police Officer
record and report the concern. Before taking any further actions, you should record and report the concern in line with your anti-bullying policy.

Getting more help

When physical bullying presents itself in school or college, the sanctioning and safeguarding routes to follow may seem straightforward. However, when technology is involved, another layer of support might be needed.

Any staff member of a school or college that has concerns over the online bullying of a learner can contact the Professionals Online Safety Helpline on 0344 381 4772 (open from 10am–4pm, Monday to Friday). As well as being on hand to advise on online safety issues, they can also help to remove harmful content if it violates a platform’s community standards.

Preventing online bullying

Effectively addressing online bullying means making sure everyone in the school or college knows that all forms of bullying are unacceptable, and how to identify and act against it.

Schools and colleges should take proactive measures to help prevent online bullying from occurring, and to reduce the impact of any incidents that do happen. This includes having a clear policy on addressing all forms of bullying and creating opportunities to understand and talk about online bullying.

For practitioners. All staff must know what steps to take and where to go if they have concerns. You should have the confidence to follow up on every incident, no matter how insignificant it may seem. It’s good practice to be aware of all your school or college’s policies, so you can effectively implement them. This will help guide your response to any online bullying situation, while ensuring you are acting in the best interest of the learner and the school or college.

For learners. Schools and colleges also have a responsibility to teach learners how to stay safe online. Online bullying can be addressed within the curriculum, for example through the Digital Competence Framework, or personal and social education (PSE). Other curriculum areas, including drama and computing, can also help bring online bullying issues to life. You may wish to take advantage of opportunities within the daily act of collective worship (assembly) to further re-inforce this.

Learners need to be encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions and be equipped to know how to respond if they’re bullied online, or if they see someone else being bullied. They also need to be given assurance that they are not on their own when it comes to addressing bullying and that the school or college will help them if they or anyone they know is being bullied on or offline.

Parents and carers. Parents and carers need to be aware of some of the online risks faced by learners, including online bullying. They should also be aware of your school or college’s anti-bullying policy. This will inform them about your school or college’s approach to dealing with any bullying incidents.

Where to go for more advice

If you want to learn more, check out the following resources which are available on Keeping safe online on Hwb.

The Welsh Government produces bullying guidance which provides detailed guidance for parents and carers, children and young people and schools.

Childnet has a comprehensive resource pack for schools called Cyberbullying: Understand, Prevent and Respond. The term ‘cyberbullying’ has been replaced by ‘online bullying’, but the advice and guidance in this pack remains helpful.

The pack covers the following four key areas.

Understanding cyberbullying.
Preventing cyberbullying.
Responding to cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying: supporting school staff.

A teacher's guide to recognising and challenging online bullying