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Bullying Is An Ongoing and Deliberate Misuse of Power in Relationships Through Repeated Verbal
Bullying Is An Ongoing and Deliberate Misuse of Power in Relationships Through Repeated Verbal
and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an
individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable
to stop it from happening.
Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious
(overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time
(for example, through sharing of digital records).
Bullying of any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those
involved, including bystanders. Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person
or online, are not defined as bullying.
Overt bullying: involves physical actions such as punching or kicking or observable verbal
actions such as name-calling and insulting
Covert bullying: can be very difficult for someone outside of the interaction to identify. It can
include hand gestures and threatening looks, whispering, excluding or turning your back on a
person, restricting where a person can sit and who they can talk with. Social bullying (spreading
rumours, manipulation of relationships, excluding, isolating) is often covert bullying.
Some behaviours can appear to be bullying but are actually harassment. Harassment is
language or actions that are demeaning, offensive or intimidating to a person. It can
take many forms, including sexual harassment, disability harassment or racial
discrimination. For instance, sexual harassment is unwelcome or unreciprocated
conduct of a sexual nature, which could reasonably be expected to cause offence,
humiliation or intimidation. For more information, see Student Engagement Policy
mutual conflict - which involves a disagreement, but not an imbalance of power. Unresolved
mutual conflict can develop into bullying if one of the parties targets the other repeatedly in
retaliation
single-episode acts of nastiness or physical aggression, or aggression directed towards many
different people, is not bullying
social rejection or dislike is not bullying unless it involves deliberate and repeated attempts to
cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others.
Participant roles
Everyone has the potential to bully others or be bullied. Individuals can take on various
roles in bullying, and play different roles in different contexts.
It is important to remember that children and young people are still learning and
practicing social skills. Everyone has the capacity to change their behaviour but being
given a label can make changing much harder.
All adults, including teachers, school staff and parents, can model positive upstander
behaviour and intervene if they observe bullying behaviour occurring between students.
Standing by and doing nothing, or leaving students to 'sort it out' themselves, sends the
message to the whole school community that the bullying behaviour is being condoned.
While any student can be a target for bullies, there are factors that make some students
more vulnerable to be being bullied. These include: