You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald from News talks'b.

You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald from News talks'b.

Isn't it crazy? Isn't it crazy that schools don't have to report how much bullying is going on? The Chief Children's Commissioner thinks so too, which is why she's saying today that it should be made mandatory for schools to provide regular, publicly available numbers. I mean, no wonder some parents feel their school isn't doing enough about bullying because you know, if you don't have to report it, guess what much easier to sweep it under the carpet, isn't it? Thankfully? And I say that, I mean that, I mean this thankfully. Our kids never had any serious problems with bullying, and look, I'm pretty sure I didn't either. When I was at school, I had a few run ins, and there were probably some kids I knew to steer clear of, and one of the two high schools I went to was pretty violent. But I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the victim of bullying, unlike a lot of other people who who were or are, Although maybe I can't say that because we don't know the numbers, and I don't think we have a hope in hell of doing anything meaningful about school bullying until we do, because at the moment we only hear about individual cases, don't we. A couple of years back, I remember Ashburton College being in the news on what seemed to be a regular basis, with parents and students talking about bullying being pretty bad there. I remember to, of course, the school trotting out the usual lines about all we take bullying seriously blah blah blah blah blah, which, to be fair, it probably did. I mean, I haven't come across the school yet that turns a completely blind eye to it. But we know, not me that, of course we know that. Because they don't have to keep records and numbers and share them with the Ministry of Education, we know how much easier it must be to sweep out under the carpet than it would be if they did have to share records and numbers with the haunchos in Wellington, if they did have to share the numbers with parents. Now, Claire Akhmad is the Chief Children's Commissioner, and she's saying today quote, I'm keen to see regular publicly reported data about bullying in schools so we can continue to understand the scale and nature of the problem for children and young people. Ended quote. She's been very polite, and she's saying today that she would like to see it. I'm saying today that we have to see it because imagine if you could go online and find out what the bullying numbers are like, maybe even at your school or at a school you're thinking of sending your kids to. Do you think schools would make sure they did everything possible about bullying. Of course they would. They probably do a lot more than they do it the moment. Some schools are probably better at dealing with bullying than others. But I see see today that the Teachers' Union is acknowledging that it's a bit of a blind spot. That's the term the head of the PPTA, which represents high school teachers, as using a blind spot. This is Chris Abercrombie, and he says doing more about bullying could be part of the answer to the problem we've got with so many kids not turning up at school. And that makes sense to me because if you're being bullied at school, the school is the last place you want to You're going to want to be isn't it. And he says there is no national plan for dealing with bullying, and that, for me is the gap that needs plugging, as well as mandatory reporting of bullying, which is what the Chief Children's Commissioner is calling for today. Because this lack of a national plan, it means that individual school boards have the job of dealing with it. I know about that because I served on a school board for a couple of years and it was on us the board to decide what to do when a case of bullying came up. So every school board in the country is doing its own thing, some probably handling it better than others. And each school is under no compulsion to share any intel at all with the Ministry of Education and parents, and because they're not required to, I think we can say that we are pretty much in the dark as to how much of a problem bullying actually is at school. Now. I'm picking you're like me, and you've reached a conclusion that it's a real problem, But we don't know for sure, and we don't really know whether schools are doing any good at stamping it out, which is why I agree one hundred percent with the Chief Children's commissioner who thinks it's nuts, and once it made compulsory for schools to file regular publicly available reports so we have a better idea of how much of a problem bullying is.

Isn't it crazy? Isn't it crazy that schools don't have to report how much bullying is going on? The Chief Children's Commissioner thinks so too, which is why she's saying today that it should be made mandatory for schools to provide regular, publicly available numbers. I mean, no wonder some parents feel their school isn't doing enough about bullying because you know, if you don't have to report it, guess what much easier to sweep it under the carpet, isn't it? Thankfully? And I say that, I mean that, I mean this thankfully. Our kids never had any serious problems with bullying, and look, I'm pretty sure I didn't either. When I was at school, I had a few run ins, and there were probably some kids I knew to steer clear of, and one of the two high schools I went to was pretty violent. But I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the victim of bullying, unlike a lot of other people who who were or are, Although maybe I can't say that because we don't know the numbers, and I don't think we have a hope in hell of doing anything meaningful about school bullying until we do, because at the moment we only hear about individual cases, don't we. A couple of years back, I remember Ashburton College being in the news on what seemed to be a regular basis, with parents and students talking about bullying being pretty bad there. I remember to, of course, the school trotting out the usual lines about all we take bullying seriously blah blah blah blah blah, which, to be fair, it probably did. I mean, I haven't come across the school yet that turns a completely blind eye to it. But we know, not me that, of course we know that. Because they don't have to keep records and numbers and share them with the Ministry of Education, we know how much easier it must be to sweep out under the carpet than it would be if they did have to share records and numbers with the haunchos in Wellington, if they did have to share the numbers with parents. Now, Claire Akhmad is the Chief Children's Commissioner, and she's saying today quote, I'm keen to see regular publicly reported data about bullying in schools so we can continue to understand the scale and nature of the problem for children and young people. Ended quote. She's been very polite, and she's saying today that she would like to see it. I'm saying today that we have to see it because imagine if you could go online and find out what the bullying numbers are like, maybe even at your school or at a school you're thinking of sending your kids to. Do you think schools would make sure they did everything possible about bullying. Of course they would. They probably do a lot more than they do it the moment. Some schools are probably better at dealing with bullying than others. But I see see today that the Teachers' Union is acknowledging that it's a bit of a blind spot. That's the term the head of the PPTA, which represents high school teachers, as using a blind spot. This is Chris Abercrombie, and he says doing more about bullying could be part of the answer to the problem we've got with so many kids not turning up at school. And that makes sense to me because if you're being bullied at school, the school is the last place you want to You're going to want to be isn't it. And he says there is no national plan for dealing with bullying, and that, for me is the gap that needs plugging, as well as mandatory reporting of bullying, which is what the Chief Children's Commissioner is calling for today. Because this lack of a national plan, it means that individual school boards have the job of dealing with it. I know about that because I served on a school board for a couple of years and it was on us the board to decide what to do when a case of bullying came up. So every school board in the country is doing its own thing, some probably handling it better than others. And each school is under no compulsion to share any intel at all with the Ministry of Education and parents, and because they're not required to, I think we can say that we are pretty much in the dark as to how much of a problem bullying actually is at school. Now. I'm picking you're like me, and you've reached a conclusion that it's a real problem, But we don't know for sure, and we don't really know whether schools are doing any good at stamping it out, which is why I agree one hundred percent with the Chief Children's commissioner who thinks it's nuts, and once it made compulsory for schools to file regular publicly available reports so we have a better idea of how much of a problem bullying is.

For more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

For more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.