According to a recently published report conducted by the Dutch Education Inspectorate, bullying in Dutch primary schools is on the rise, and not just a little. In the period 2022-2024 the number of cases of bullying rose from 880 cases in 2021-2022, to a total of 1270 in the school year 2023-2024, which is a 33 percent increase. The Education Inspectorate, which is a government agency that monitors the quality of the education system in the Netherlands by conducting quality surveys and evaluates the outcome with the school management. The Education Inspectorate supervises the quality of education on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). As schools are required to provide a safe learning environment for pupils, some schools have resorted to appointing a confidential inspector which allows pupils to report incidents of bullying. The data for report has been collected by confidential inspectors, which is a reason why the Dutch government is currently working on a legislation that will make it mandatory for all schools to have a confidential inspector for victims of bullying to report to.
Primary Schools
Although some might argue that bullying has always existed and children have always been intimated by classmates at school or on the playground, one of the alarming conclusions of the report, indicates that besides the spike in reported cases in primary schools, bullying is becoming more serious with physical threats, and can have long-lasting psychological effects on its victims, making them afraid of interacting with others, not being able to trust and mold friendships, or even turning them into bullies themselves. Allocated school inspectors who address confidential matters are receiving more cases of undesirable behavior, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and psychological violence. Children are sometimes bullied for years, and schools are struggling to break these patterns and restore group dynamics.
Secondary schools
In the 2023-2024 school year, the inspectorate registered a total of 2,317 new cases of psychological, physical or sexual violence. That is an increase of 165 compared to the previous year and 574 more compared to the 2021-2022 school year. Rogier Oet, director of supervision at the Education Inspectorate, finds this increase alarming, not necessarily due to the increase of the reports but because the incidents seem to be becoming more serious, especially the psychological damage for victims. Oet concludes that, “we often see that children have been bullied for years. The long-term aspect is particularly concerning. Then the impact becomes even greater.” Moreover, young people are more likely to resort to violence or threatened to use it.” There were more than 600 cases of violence where some were threatened with knives. In addition to the cases of violent bullying in the classroom, social media has become a new platform where peers can post negative comments about their classmates whom they do not like, turning bullying into a 24/7 phenomenon.
Wanting to belong
According to research by Robert Thornberg of the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning of Linköping University, Sweden, bullying is psychologically connected with the desire to fit in with peers. “Everyone wants to belong and make friends”. It’s human nature to want to belong and fit in, which is part of human survival. At the same token, the bond with others only becomes strengthened when there is labeled an outsider and stereotyped as different. That one becomes the target pupil as ‘odd’, or ‘different’ or someone who ‘doesn’t’ fit it’.
Anti-bullying coordinator
One of the solutions to the problem is for schools to have an Anti-bullying coordinator, which helps professionals prevent, identify, and address bullying. Mirelle Valentijn, who as a child was bullied, decided to make her childhood trauma, and founded the Kenniscentrum Omgaan met Pesten(Knowledge Center for addressing Bullying), which offers training courses for Anti-bullying coordinator, that can help contribute to a safer school environment for all children. Once pupils become aware of what they are doing they will change their behavior, which can positive consequences for the rest of their lives. Last month the world witnessed one of the worse examples of bullying when the Ukrainian president visited the White House to discuss a peace agreement for his country. Instead, Zelensky was belittled and berated by Donald Trump and his vice-president J.D. Vance in front of the American media. Perhaps having an Anti-bullying coordinator is not such a bad idea for schools, but also for adults.
Written by Benjamin B. Roberts