Under reporting of bullying in Scotland's schools: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request - 202400411245

I require a copy of all information that Education Scotland holds on the under reporting of bullying in Scotland's schools and what actions if any has it has taken or recommended to address this issue.

My request only covers the period since 2022 until present to cover the period Education Scotland has been actively engaged in reviewing progress made since the new guidelines for the recording and monitoring of buying were brought in by the Scottish Government in 2018 to address previous significant concerns about bullying in schools. 

Response

Thank you for your review request dated 28 May 2024, I have now completed my review to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for “I require a copy of all information that Education Scotland holds on the under reporting of bullying in Scotland's schools and what actions if any has it has taken or recommended to address this issue. My request only covers the period since 2022 until present to cover the period Education Scotland has been actively engaged in reviewing progress made since the new guidelines for the recording and monitoring of buying were brought in by the Scottish Government in 2018 to address previous significant concerns about bullying in schools.”

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

During the review the scope of the request was widened to include additional searches for information which related to the subject matter, which Education Scotland held although had not created. This led to additional information being in scope which is now included. We apologise that this information was not collated at the initial request.

All information that Education Scotland holds on the under reporting of bullying in Scotland’s schools since 2022:

• Respect for All Review and refresh working groups. This includes the following documents: 
• Respect for All Chair briefing – Annex A

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (“third party data”) applies to some of the information requested in Annex A. It is submitted that the disclosure of certain third party data contained within the material requested would contravene one of the principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR (in this case, the lawfulness of processing). This is because, even if there were a legitimate interest in this information specifically (i.e. personal third party information of officials) and disclosure was considered necessary to achieve that interest, that legitimate interest would not override the interests, rights, and freedoms of those third parties. 

In these circumstances, exemption section 38(1)(b) is not subject to the public interest test.

• Recording and Monitoring of Incidents (5 March 2024) – Annex B
• Behaviour in Scottish Schools draft report has now been published and the information relating to under-reporting of bullying that is within this draft report is the same that was published. This can be seen on page 183 of the document, Behaviour in Scottish schools: research report 2023.
• Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Scottish Schools (SAGRABIS) minutes – December 2022 and May 2023 . These minutes are publicly available on: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). There are specific references to monitoring and reporting of bullying in December 2022 and May 2023.
• Email advising of the Behaviour Summit and a link to the notes which mentions inconsistency and frequency of bullying. These are published and available on: Relationships and Behaviour Summit: Recording and monitoring incidents in schools: 5 September 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

What actions Education Scotland has taken or recommended to address this issue?

The following professional learning resources were been updated in 2024 to support staff and their reporting and monitoring of bullying:

• Summary of Anti-Bullying Resources: A summary of anti-bullying resources.
• Preventing and responding to bullying: Preventing and responding to bullying.

In addition Education Scotland staff were involved in the updating of the Promoting Anti-Racist Education in Scotland resources. These can be found here: Responding to Racist Incidents – Promoting Anti-Racist Education in Scotland.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain the information from the links above, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Also, representatives of Education Scotland attend various working groups that consider policy and actions around bullying and its reporting, including underreporting. They attend SAGRABIS meetings which considers behaviour in Scottish schools including bullying and its reporting and inputted into the Behaviour Summit in September 2023 with the theme of reporting and monitoring. They are also represented on the Respect For All refresh working groups and subgroups. 

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202400416033 - Information released - Annex A

File type

4 page PDF

File size

150.3 kB

FOI - 202400416033 - Information released - Annex B

File type

3 page PDF

File size

76.3 kB