The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Bullying in schools as well as politics ever more pernicious
The pendulum has now swung against teachers and staff
For the first time in ages, I didn’t fall off my chair in shock after a pronouncement by the Scottish Greens. On this occasion, it seemed to hit a chord.
They were talking about the levels of daily bullying and abuse some MSPs have to endure.
The Scottish Government has been busy compiling lists of complaints about offensive comments and threats aimed at elected members, many of which were passed to police.
Perhaps not surprisingly – after pulling the strings in Scotland for almost two decades with independence taking priority as other more pressing issues slide – most were apparently directed at SNP members.
It’s a significant factor feeding the country’s febrile political atmosphere, but not the only cause, it would seem, if you are green.
In response to revelations that there were more than 400 cases of extreme abuse or threats, the Scottish Greens touched on social media garbage which is churned out incessantly and “sections” of the mainstream press stoking it up, too.
But the really interesting bit was when a Greens’ spokesperson pointed an accusing finger at the politicians themselves over how they abuse each other.
Far from it for me to suggest that this line of attack had more to do with the sudden climate change which occurred when the Greens’ shotgun marriage to the SNP broke up so spectacularly.
And the recriminations which followed about the disproportionate effect so few Greens had on the balance of power.
Never in the field of political conflict have so few owed so much to so many after bombarding the long-suffering public with hare-brained schemes.
But despite all that, it was a fair point about how politicians could be their own worst enemies when bringing up bile about each other.
Like school bullies, some might say. Child tormentors in the north-east have been in the news again as the curse of bullying in the nation’s schools still seems to go unchecked.
We know politics is rough – even Sturgeon was forced to concede there was a certain toxicity around her own confrontational, abrasive style which polarised Scottish public opinion.
It’s something Swinney must keep in mind: he might have donned the robes of “unity” candidate, but his views on treating the general election as a referendum mandate will deepen divisions even further.
The two voting processes are completely different beasts, but he’s suffering from square-peg-round-hole syndrome in following blindly in the well-worn steps of Sturgeon and Yousaf – especially at a time when he must address domestic issues such as education, for example, a department he ran for a significant period.
But if many MSPs are devoting so much time to bullying each other they are hardly qualified to solve the same problem in schools, nor set a good example.
Many would argue that Cabinets in which Swinney served elevated children’s rights to a level which wasn’t healthy for school discipline, so the pendulum has swung against teachers and other staff.
I remember having a mixture of fear mixed with respect for my teachers – now staff walk in fear of their pupils.
Only the other day, a support worker revealed shocking levels of pupil violence towards staff in Aberdeen – even in primary schools.
Other staff have marched through the streets in protest.
If teachers and staff can’t say boo to a goose for fear of bullies turning on them, how can they protect vulnerable young victims?
I know a family struggling with bullying issues right now and the feeling of helplessness and daily anxiety gripping them.
The irony of their situation is that the child in question has shown heights of courage and mental fortitude in excelling at challenges which the bullies and their brainless herd of followers would be incapable of matching.
I hear rumours of a school where boys shut themselves in the toilets to orchestrate brutal fights – circulating videos of the grisly punching and kicking exhibition for the delectation of their peers.
These matters are not the rough and tumble of growing up, but something more pernicious.
Where are the staff when this type of thing is going on under their noses?
Almost 18 months ago the P&J revealed a shambolic logging system for keeping records of bullying in Aberdeen schools.
It skewed the figures to such an extent that some schools looked as though they were full of bullies while others claimed to have none.
Neither gave a complete picture as it was due to the differing systems they were using and levels of staff diligence.
Aberdeen City Council claimed it would sort things out pronto.
I think we are still awaiting the outcome, but maybe I missed something.
Why is it that when it comes to childprotection issues – from bullying to contaminated blood to official incompetence over domestic abuse – it seems easier to sweep it under the carpet?
■ David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal