Bullying of Children in Schools of Australia

Running head: Bullying of children in schools of Australia
Bullying of children in schools of Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

Running head: Bullying of children in schools of Australia
Topic: Bullying of children in schools of Australia
Introduction
Social policy contains both the aspect one as an academic subject and the other, which is
specifically related to policy-making process. Social policy law concentrates on wellbeing rather
than welfare because it gives importance to how people are rather than what people do (Baldock,
Mitton, and Vickerstaff 2011). Public policy refers to the government’s expression on a
particular social problem. This is essay is going to understand the importance of bullying and
various nuances that are present in the manner of bullying itself. Even though specific school
policies have recognised the important to detect bullying, they hardly recognise the importance
of cyber bulling. This paper aims to understand the importance of making policies premised on
the increasing rate if cyber bullying.
Description of the policy
Counter bullying, harassment and violence act public schools (2007), premised on the
legislation of Human Rights Act 2004, Discrimination Act 1991, Racial Discrimination Act 1975
and Sex Discrimination Act 1984 is an evidence-based policy. The effectiveness of these policies
are based on the quantitative measures and professionalism. Therefore the qualitative aspects are
overlooked. Any person who is suffering from the emotional or mental trauma inflicted by cyber
bullying cannot redeem in court and thus it remains unrecognised, under this law.
According to the policy, every school must adopt specific strategies like reporting,
intervening, accessing help and support, and professional learning. This policy do not taken into
account the major cause of bullying at first place, this policy works on the remedying of the

Running head: Bullying of children in schools of Australia
problem. This policy has a clear-cut definition of what bullying is and how it is different from
harassment, violence and conflicts and critical incidents. This policy do not take account of the
cyber bullying, which might take place within the school student. Due to the prevalence of
digital platform, students or children aged from 5 years to 8 years are also victim of cyber
bulling. This policies also sets out the bullying will be considered only when the violence
originated from bullying falls in the school’s behaviour management plan. There is no formal
plan laid out to address the problem of cyber bullying. Summoning the parents and providing
them information about the impact of bullying can cause may affect the wellbeing of the student.
To understand the how each policy is working one needs to address local education authority
website. This assignment is going to comprehend the bullying practices and the policies that
specific to Australian Capital Territory.
What’s the challenge?
As Harvey et al. (2006) states. “The unfortunate reality is that bullying is moving from
playground of our childhood, to the offices and boardrooms of our adult business arenas”. The
act of bullying is not only limited in local sphere or just in school sphere, the event is pervasive,
and people are even practicing it in job sector. However, there is no proper definition of bullying.
Analysis shows that various levels in (Cohn and Canter 2003) Australian federal laws uses
different meanings to address bullying. For instance, federal law typically refers to “harassment”
as bullying. This particular terms has different dimension, like it needs to have clear cut
definition because it is attached to fighting, harassment and it also describes the power imbalance
that exist within the system. Cornell and Limber explains “the term harassment is often used
interchangeably with bullying, (even though) it has an established history in civil rights law and
policy that precedes the fledging laws and developing policies concerning bullying” (Cornell and

Running head: Bullying of children in schools of Australia
Limber, 2015). The federal system of law do not have any specific law on bullying, but the
federal and policy framework happens to respond to the bullying. These laws are designed to
offer protection and remedies individuals who are victim of bullying. The civil rights and the
anti-discriminatory laws are concerned with protected classes of individuals if they have been
subjected to harassment.
The common wealth legislation relevant to bullying, harassment and discrimination are:
Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Human Rights and Equal opportunity Commission
(HREOC) Act 1986, Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Racial Hatred Act 1995 and Sex
Discrimination Act 1984 (Clark 2009). Policies related to these broader framework has been
subjected to amendment. No policies work effectively for understand the extent to which
children even adult are subjected to mental agony for cyber bulling. Loss of face or feeling low
by other students can cause any person feel depressed and their entire personality changes. they
become disoriented and conflict prone. Thus in order to address cyber bullying one needs to
address feelings that gets tampered based on the evidence.
What are the problems you are aiming to address and why?
Cyber bullying not only cause stress to the victim it also shows the chivalrous nature of
the victimizer. The cycle has no end, once any person become the victim, he or she will have the
instinct to victimize any other person. This nature they will relief their discomfort. Bullying is
only about causing damage to the person reputation it also refers to the power dynamics. Thus
the victim, placed low in power dynamics will aim to get the status by bullying that by showing