Bullying in schools: Mainstream and special needs

Abstract

The school bully has always been with us. Many examples appear in the literature, some portrayals of which have not fully conveyed the true horror that sustained intimidation can bring to the victim. Surprisingly, we still know very little about this problem and particularly how it affects pupils with special needs. One might intuitively expect them to figure in either of the two main roles. The Sheffield team set out to remedy our ignorance. Here they introduce us to a survey undertaken in local schools. The position of special needs pupils, initially, is far from clear. However, subsequent investigations prove more revealing. Now that the work at Sheffield has attracted support from the Department of Education and Science we can look forward to more detailed findings in a year or so.