Shooting at Graz School: One Fifth Feels Repeatedly Bullied

The PISA studies regularly collect data on bullying in schools. After the actual PISA test, additional questionnaires also collect so-called context factors - in this case, regarding well-being at school. Over the years, the frequency of bullying has increased; however, compared to the penultimate study in 2018, a slight decrease was recently recorded. In the OECD comparison, Austria is roughly average.

Bullying in Schools: Slightly Different Numbers Depending on the Study

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) by the WHO for the school year 2021/22 recently came to slightly different numbers. Depending on the school level (children in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 - i.e., 10- to 17-year-olds were surveyed), between three and twelve percent of girls and between four and 13 percent of boys reported being bullied at school several times in recent months. Around two percent of girls and five percent of students, conversely, identified themselves as bullies.

In this study, the trend was different: The number of students who identify as victims or perpetrators of bullying has significantly decreased between 2010 and 2018 and has remained the same since then. However, so-called cyberbullying has increased: Depending on the school level, between eight and 13 percent of young people have been victims at least once in recent months.

From another perspective, the TALIS study by the OECD describes the issue of bullying: Here, teachers and school administrations are surveyed. In the last survey in 2018, 15 percent of directors reported that "bullying" incidents or other verbal attacks among their students occur at least weekly at their schools. This is almost exactly in line with the OECD and EU averages (each 14 percent).

(APA/Red.)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.