Protecting students from bullying

Bullying is a complex social issue that can cause long-term harm to those involved. It occurs in all aspects of life and is not just confined to schools. Addressing bullying involves a wide range of stakeholders, including families, parents/carers, the broader community, and schools. Schools play an important role preventing and responding to bullying. But they cannot do it on their own, and they must work in partnership with parents/carers and stakeholders to influence student behaviours related to bullying.

This report examines whether the Department of Education’s (the department’s) strategies are effective in supporting the protection of students from bullying. We looked at how the department coordinates its strategies and resources and works with its schools.

The department’s strategies to reduce bullying

The department sets the overall direction and requirements for its schools to deliver education services. Its strategies include a clear focus on student wellbeing, academic achievement, and building respectful and positive relationships which promote inclusion. Central to this is its delivery of health and wellbeing education. These areas are key in the management of student bullying. However, the department could more explicitly communicate how its strategies address bullying, particularly for students and parents. Its strategies do not set objectives, actions, or measures of success specific to the management of bullying.

The department requires each of its schools to develop and implement a student code of conduct. This documents and communicates each school’s approach to bullying. If developed appropriately, the code of conduct will align with evidence-based approaches to reducing bullying. The department can enhance its review and monitoring of school codes of conduct. It should also improve the guidance provided to schools to support a more consistent application of mandatory elements. All the 50 codes of conduct we examined (out of 1,265 state schools) were missing one or more of the department’s required elements. Schools often left out information on who to contact about bullying and how parents/carers could escalate a concern if not satisfied with the school’s response. Many are also lengthy. As a key communication tool for students and parents/carers, the department could consider making the proforma for student codes of conduct shorter and more user friendly for parents/carers.

The department is enhancing its use of data to support its management of behavioural incidents (which include bullying). In late 2023, new dashboards were developed to enable school level and statewide monitoring of behavioural incidents (these remain in the pilot phase with implementation anticipated for mid-2025). The department can further enhance its use of data to inform its approaches to bullying. While it records data on bullying incidents, limited data is captured on students who have experienced bullying. Similar findings have been raised in previous reviews, such as the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Capturing this information could allow for broader analysis and assist the department to enhance its support for students affected by bullying. The department would also benefit from greater data on emerging areas, such as cyber bullying. This would enable it to better identify and analyse cyber bullying to inform its responses, including education to parents/carers.

Monitoring the effectiveness of strategies

The department is not able to effectively determine the extent to which its strategies are effective in preventing and responding to bullying. This is partly due to the absence of measures specific to bullying incidents to monitor and evaluate against. The day-to-day management of bullying is the responsibility of schools when it occurs within the school or affects the order of the school. Individual instances are managed within this environment. While the department utilises periodic reviews of its schools to assess performance over a variety of areas, such as academic performance, these reviews do not specifically address bullying practices (they consider areas such as suspensions and exclusions which could be the result of bullying).

Stakeholder experiences and opinions are an important source of information that can be used to evaluate effectiveness and inform the further development of its strategies, policies, and resources. The department surveys stakeholders on wellbeing matters and on broader experiences with schooling. This can provide some indications on their experience of bullying. However, the department could better understand the perceptions and experiences of students, parents/carers, and teachers specific to bullying by including some specific questions about bullying and how schools manage it.

Supporting schools to reduce student bullying

The department provides its schools with a variety of resources to help them manage bullying. These resources are important, given the demands on principals and teachers. Resources currently include:

• positive behaviour and respectful relationship curriculum and teaching materials
• access to wellbeing and other professionals to support students impacted by bullying
• support for investigation and management of cyber-related incidents
• access to some training materials relevant to bullying and behaviour management.

The department also leads national bullying initiatives that provide resources to schools, parents, and students.

The department expects schools to work with key stakeholders such as parents/carers and community groups to support a collaborative approach to the management of bullying. To support better engagement with parents/carers in their busy lives, the department needs to streamline its information and resources so they are easy to access and use. The department could also strengthen the tools and guidance available to assist schools in engaging more effectively with these stakeholders. This engagement forms a core component of better practice approaches to bullying.

Schools are provided a range of training materials to assist them in delivering educational services. However, schools would benefit from access to more targeted training on how to identify and respond to bullying incidents. In 2024, the department launched a new classroom management hub for teachers with materials related to learning, wellbeing, and positive behaviours. This is an important step, but schools would benefit from easier access to materials to assist both teachers and other support staff, such as teacher aides.

Bullying is a whole-of-society problem which can have short- and long-term impacts on those involved. It occurs within all aspects of life, including the workplace, within the community, and within schools. Addressing student bullying requires a collective effort from a broad range of stakeholders, including families, parents/carers, the broader community, and schools.

This report examined whether the Department of Education’s (the department’s) strategies were effective in supporting the protection of students from bullying at Queensland state schools. We assessed whether the department’s strategies and policies were effectively designed, and whether it has monitored the implementation and effectiveness of these strategies. We visited 5 schools (out of 1,265 state schools) to see how they managed bullying. This evidence was used to understand how departmental policies were implemented by those schools. It also provided us with context on how bullying was being managed at the school level, including challenges faced. Given the small sample size, it was not intended to be representative of all schools.

The department’s strategies and procedures are effectively designed in line with better practice research on bullying, and these provide its schools with an evidence-based approach to manage bullying on a day-to-day basis. However, overall strategies do not effectively communicate the department’s objectives, actions, and measures specific to bullying. The department could be more explicit and better communicate how its strategies are intended to address bullying. As they are currently presented, this would not be obvious to students and parents/carers. More could also be done to use bullying related data from its schools to inform its strategies and responses.

The department’s monitoring of its schools’ implementation of bullying strategies could be more effective. It does not have the necessary measures and information to determine if its policies and resources are effectively supporting schools to reduce student bullying incidents. Schools operate with a high degree of autonomy in delivering education services in line with local needs, and bullying incidents are largely managed within schools. Accordingly, it is important that the department enhances its assessment and monitoring activities to determine whether schools are effective in protecting students from bullying. This includes monitoring of key areas such as documentation and communication of schools’ codes of conduct. Enhancing its use of surveys would also improve the department’s ability to measure its effectiveness. At present, it is not capturing sufficient detail through annual surveys to enable evaluation of its approaches.

We have directed the recommendations in this report to the Department of Education.

Reference to comments

In accordance with s. 64 of the Auditor-General Act 2009, we provided a copy of this report to the Department of Education. In reaching our conclusions, we considered its views and represented them to the extent we deemed relevant and warranted. The formal response from the Department of Education is at Appendix A.

Bullying is defined as an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical, and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social, and/or psychological harm. It is an issue which can have negative impacts, not only for people who are bullied, but also for those displaying bullying behaviours and those who witness it. Within schools, bullied students can have lower school attendance, lower academic achievement, and lower self-esteem. Bullying is also associated with numerous and lasting negative impacts on individuals’ wellbeing into adulthood.

In this audit, we assessed the effectiveness of the Department of Education’s (the department’s) strategies, policies, and resources to support schools to protect students from bullying. We visited 5 schools (out of 1,265 state schools) across the state to see how they were using these strategies, procedures, and resources. These schools are not representative of all Queensland state schools and accordingly, outcomes of these visits cannot be extrapolated to all schools.

Appendix B provides greater detail on our audit scope and methodology.

Identifying and responding to bullying

Identifying and responding to student bullying can be complicated. Bullying is not always straightforward to identify, and it is not confined to the school yard. Addressing it requires a comprehensive approach involving multiple stakeholders, including schools, individuals, families, communities, policymakers, and technology companies. Schools cannot address bullying on their own, and accordingly a whole-of-school and whole-of-community approach is required. The social and psychological factors involved in bullying means that a variety of approaches are required to effectively manage bullying incidents. Our report focuses on the strategies the department has in place, which includes how it works with all stakeholders to address bullying.

Identifying student bullying

Bullying is not always straightforward to identify. One-off incidents are not bullying; the behaviour becomes recognised as bullying when a student or group of students repeatedly targets one or more students. While many bullying incidents are identified and recorded in the classroom, incidents often occur in areas where school staff are not present – such as toilets, playgrounds, and online. It does not always stop or start in the school yard, often occurring both within and outside school. This can make it more difficult for school staff to address it. The national initiative Bullying. No Way! describes 3 types of bullying:

• verbal – name calling or insulting someone
• physical – hitting or otherwise hurting someone
• social – excluding someone from social activities and groups.

When bullying occurs online and a student publishes, distributes, or shares information to a wider audience, the behaviour may be described as cyber bullying.

Bullying can overlap with other aggressive behaviours that present as one-off incidents, such as fights, harassment, or theft.

Students can be reluctant to report bullying

What may initially appear as a one-off incident can be difficult to recognise as bullying if the student is reluctant to report previous incidents.

Students who experience bullying can be reluctant to report bullying because they fear retaliation or escalation. Some types of bullying are subtle (such as social exclusion) and students may not realise that what they are experiencing is harmful. Understanding the different types of bullying helps students to recognise when they are being bullied and how to respond.

Effective responses to student bullying

Responding to student bullying is complex due to the social and psychological factors involved. This can include issues like low self-esteem, past trauma, or social isolation. Research into effective responses to student bullying identifies the need for schools to deploy a multi-faceted approach, including:

• education for students, teachers, other school staff, parents/carers, and the broader community
• support and wellbeing services for those impacted by bullying (both those experiencing bullying and those displaying bullying behaviour)
• responsive anti-bullying approaches, including sanctions (such as suspensions and expulsions) and restorative practices (such as counselling and education)
• monitoring and evaluation activities to assess effectiveness of activities undertaken.

We provide further information on effective responses to bullying in Appendix F.

Addressing bullying requires a collaborative approach

Reducing bullying requires a collective effort that involves schools, parents/carers, and the broader community. Schools play an important role in this, but not the only role. They provide safe and positive learning environments which encompass student wellbeing, inclusiveness, and diversity. To effectively reduce bullying behaviours, there must be involvement from parents/carers and the community more broadly.

For parents/carers, effective collaboration through education and open communication can help them:

• recognise the signs and effects of bullying
• identify if their child might be involved in bullying. This could be if their child is being bullied or if they are using bullying behaviour
• understand the importance of maintaining open lines of communication and modelling empathy, respect, and kindness at home.

Collaboration between the school and its community sets expectations about behaviours not just at school, but more broadly in the community where children are involved (such as out-of-school sports, dance, and music activities). Raising awareness, recognising positive behaviour, and creating safe spaces can help the broader community:

• participate in campaigns to increase awareness of what bullying is and what to do if it occurs
• partner with schools to participate in anti-bullying programs, events, and awards that recognise positive behaviour
• improve overall actions and responses to bullying. This may include areas such as offering safe spaces for children, and providing information on how to report bullying anonymously.

Roles and responsibilities for managing bullying behaviour

The department sets the strategic direction (discussed in Chapter 4) for how schools must deliver education services, which includes the management of bullying. It provides systems and resources to use when managing bullying (such as the system to record student behaviour incidents, OneSchool, and fact sheets for how to respond to a report of bullying). It also maintains dashboards that schools and regions use to monitor student achievement, attendance, satisfaction, and behaviour incidents.

The department reviews the performance of every state school on a 4-yearly cycle and supports schools to develop plans to address any improvements identified. Its 8 regional offices monitor and support schools when needed, and each school has a school supervisor. It also provides all schools with access to support staff, such as child psychologists, counsellors, and guidance officers.

Schools and principals are responsible for the day-to-day management of school behaviour (which includes bullying), protecting students from harm, and ensuring the good order of the school. Typically, principals and staff (including deputy principals, heads of department, teachers, and teacher aides) manage bullying by:

• promoting a caring, safe, and supportive learning environment for all students
• protecting the safety and wellbeing of students, including those who display bullying behaviours and those who experience bullying
• providing the appropriate supports for students, such as counselling or referral to other services
• setting the required standard of student behaviour
• intervening in incidents they see in the classroom and playground
• recording and investigating complaints from students, parents/carers, and other staff
• determining the appropriate actions for misbehaving students, including
  • consequences (such as apology, detention, suspension, or exclusion)
  • therapy (such as counselling)
• communicating to parents/carers of students involved in incidents.

Principals have autonomy to choose how they implement the department’s policies and which resources to use to best respond to the local needs of their students. They also receive funding they can use to access commercial programs and training or develop their own in-house resources.

Bullying incidents in Queensland state schools

OneSchool is the primary system used by schools to record student behaviour incidents (including bullying). In 2023, 2.49 million behaviour incidents were recorded in OneSchool. Of these, 76,400 (3 per cent) were bullying incidents. That year 56,121 individual students were reported for bullying (some students were involved in multiple incidents). Appendix D includes further information on student bullying, including students reported for repeated bullying incidents. Appendix E lists the behavioural codes available for schools when recording incidents.

Figure 3A shows the breakdown of incidents by gender.

Boys are, on average, twice as likely to use bullying behaviour compared to girls. System-wide data is not available on the number and gender breakdown of students who experienced bullying in Queensland state schools.

Trends over time

Before 2023, the department recorded bullying and harassment within a single behaviour category. Figure 3B shows bullying and harassment incidents decreased from a total of approximately 125,000 in 2013 to around 115,100 in 2022. Incidents involving boys decreased from a high of 37 incidents per 100 students in 2015 to a low of 28 per 100 in 2022 (lower school attendance due to COVID-19 affected the 2020 data). Incident rates involving girls have remained relatively stable, at around 10 per 100.

From the beginning of the 2023 school year, the department created new categories and split bullying and harassment into 2 separate categories. It also provided clearer definitions to staff. The new categories are listed in Appendix E. Future trends in bullying will be clearer from 2023 onwards as the counts of harassment incidents can be considered separately.

In the 2023 school year, in addition to the nearly 76,400 reported bullying incidents, schools reported nearly 61,900 harassment incidents (combined total: 138,300). Given the change in definitions and categories, these totals should not be compared to prior year data sets.

Our analysis of the bullying incidents reported by state schools in 2023 identified that some groups of students, some schools, and some student cohorts may need more support to address bullying behaviour than others. Figure 3C summarises a selection of high-level patterns.

Appendix D provides more detail on the patterns in the bullying incident data.

Effective responses to reducing student bullying highlight the need for involvement and action from a variety of stakeholders, including families, parents/carers, the broader community, and schools. In this chapter, we report on how the Department of Education (the department):

• coordinates and communicates its strategies to address student bullying (including communications with stakeholders outside of schools)
• collects and analyses data to understand the extent and nature of bullying in schools
• monitors and evaluates if its strategies are effectively reducing bullying.

Strategies to address student bullying

The department sets the strategic direction and environment for how its schools must deliver education services (including managing bullying). This is communicated through 3 key documents: the Equity and Excellence Strategy, the Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework, and the P-12 Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework. Schools must follow specific procedures for the day-to-day management of bullying. The department mandates them through the Student code of conduct proforma, which is a required document under the student discipline procedure. Figure 4A summarises these documents.

The department’s current strategies require schools to focus on the support and wellbeing of students, create a sense of belonging, and establish a positive environment for teaching. Central to this is the delivery of health and wellbeing education to students. This approach is a core element of evidence-based, holistic approaches to bullying. We discuss the materials and supports provided to schools to deliver these education services in Chapter 5.

The department previously had an anti-bullying action plan, Stand out from the crowd, which was released in 2018. It developed the action plan in response to a parliamentary inquiry into cyber bullying. The plan has now expired, and is no longer in use, with actions finalised in 2020.

A more coordinated approach to reducing bullying is needed

The Equity and Excellence Strategy; P-12 Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework; and the Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework cover elements of effective approaches to bullying. However, these documents do not mention bullying or set objectives, targets, or strategies specific to bullying. This makes it difficult to determine how the department coordinates, communicates, and measures bullying to ensure its approaches are effective in reducing it.

Addressing the prevalence of bullying across the state school system requires a coordinated and unified approach from the department, its school staff, parents/carers, and the broader community. Enhancing its strategy and framework to clearly document its approach would help the department to communicate expectations and responsibilities for preventing and addressing bullying consistently to everyone. This would complement the communications provided to parents/carers on how schools manage bullying through the student code of conduct (discussed further below).

The department could consider aspects of the previous Stand out from the crowd action plan, which advocated a community-wide approach to bullying and cyber bullying and focused on cooperative actions from students, teachers, support staff, parents/carers, local business owners, leaders, and elected officials. The action plan focused on 3 areas:

• act – everyone has a responsibility to take action to prevent and respond to bullying
• collaborate – bullying affects everyone, and people need to work together to find solutions
• educate – education is key to creating positive, safe, and inclusive school environments.

The department could reference materials available in other jurisdictions when considering how it communicates its approach to bullying. Appendix C details some of the approaches to bullying in selected jurisdictions across Australia and New Zealand.

The department could help schools better document and communicate their approach to managing student bullying

The department’s student code of conduct proforma aligns to evidence-based approaches to managing student bullying

The department’s primary mechanism for setting the procedures for its schools to manage bullying is through a student code of conduct. All schools must develop their own local student code of conduct using the department’s proforma. The proforma includes 11 mandatory elements related to bullying. Codes of conduct also cover other elements of school discipline, such as use of social media, complaints, and use of mobile devices.

The department’s 11 mandatory elements meet evidence-based better practice research for managing student bullying (see Appendix F for the analysis we compiled on evidence-based approaches). Successful approaches include key areas such as who parents/carers and students should contact if involved in a bullying incident, and the supports available for students who have been bullied.

Communication to students, parents/carers, and the community through the student code of conduct could be improved

In addition to outlining school procedures, student codes of conduct are also the primary method schools use to communicate with parents/carers and students on how school staff will manage student bullying. The student codes of conduct are long (based on the 31-page proforma sent to schools) and difficult for parents/carers to easily find information.

The length and language used in the student codes of conduct may be appropriate for school staff, but this may not be the case for students and parents/carers. This increases the risk that these key groups may not understand how schools manage bullying, and that practices adopted by schools do not align with stakeholder expectations. This communication is important, given the whole-of-community response required to effectively address bullying.

We visited 5 schools (out of 1,265 state schools) and met with representatives from 3 of the parents and citizens associations from these schools. They all commented that the student codes of conduct were lengthy documents that were difficult to understand. The peak body, P&Cs Qld, made similar comments about the usability of the student codes of conduct based on phone calls for help with bullying from its members.

The department can streamline these documents to ensure key stakeholders read, understand, and use them.

Student codes of conduct need greater guidance on the mandatory elements

We randomly selected 50 schools from across Queensland and assessed their student codes of conduct. All 50 codes of conduct omitted one or more of the mandatory elements for addressing bullying based upon the publicly available codes of conduct. We did not validate these omissions with each of the selected schools.

Most schools did not include:

• details of the professional development for staff (98 per cent)
• the threshold for reporting to police and or child protection services for bullying matters (94 per cent)
• the whole school program to prevent and address bullying (76 per cent).

Other important areas which some schools had omitted (from the sampled schools) included the complaints management process for bullying incidents, and the single point of contact for information on bullying policies and approaches at the school.

Most schools did include:

• the description for how they would promote positive behaviours (98 per cent)
• the possible disciplinary consequences for students using bullying behaviour (100 per cent).

The department’s proforma includes guidance, but could be clearer. It would benefit from incorporating further detail to help schools meet the expected requirements.

Omissions in the student codes of conduct do not mean these elements are not in place within schools. Our findings relate to how these areas are communicated to students and parents/carers. Our audit did not assess individual schools’ compliance with these requirements or individual case management of bullying incidents within schools.

The student codes of conduct are not always reviewed and signed annually

The department’s policy mandates that each school must undertake an annual minor review of its student code of conduct. This is to ensure it remains current and has the correct names and contact details of staff and the parents and citizens association. The principal and the president of the parents and citizens association should sign the student code of conduct annually to show it is current.

Each school must also undertake a comprehensive review, including community consultation, every 4 years to ensure it has the support of parents/carers to implement the school rules as detailed in the student code of conduct. The department’s policy states that schools must develop their student codes of conduct with the involvement, engagement, and collaboration of the parent body.

Of the 50 student codes of conduct we reviewed:

• 40 (80 per cent) had not been signed by the principal and president of the parents and citizens association in the current year
• only 30 (60 per cent) included a statement of support from the parents and citizens association.

This increases the risk that details for key contacts, such as the parents and citizens association or school staff who handle bullying complaints, are not up to date. It also raises the question of whether these key parties were involved in developing the code of conduct, and whether they understand the schools’ approaches. While schools and individuals may have concerns regarding publishing signatures on public websites, more could be done to clarify the currency of these documents and how parents/carers can obtain hard copy originals.

At 3 of the 5 schools we visited, we were able to meet with representatives of the parents and citizens associations. They all commented that they had not had input into developing the student code of conduct. At 3 of the 5 schools we attended, the current president had not signed the student code of conduct.

Understanding the extent and nature of student bullying

Understanding the extent and nature of bullying occurring and students at higher risk can help the department to coordinate its strategies and resources. This would ensure they are appropriately aligned to the needs of its schools and stakeholders.

The department could better understand how many students experience bullying

The department could better understand the nature, extent, and impact of bullying by recording more details on those students who experience bullying. At present, it is limited in how this information is recorded in its OneSchool system.

The system enables recording of detailed information on behaviour for those students displaying unacceptable behaviours. Schools can currently capture information such as the time, date, and nature of bullying incidents. OneSchool allows for freeform text capture, which schools can elect to use to capture further detail on the incident, including details of the student(s) experiencing bullying. This can include information on supports provided to the student and updates regarding the outcomes of any interventions. While the department could collate this freeform data, it does not enable effective monitoring. This impacts the department’s and schools’ ability to collate and assess actions undertaken to support students.

Capturing and analysing information on those students who have experienced bullying would provide the department with valuable data to enhance its policies and strategies. It could also enable:

• better support for these students
• assessment of the impact on their wellbeing, attendance, and academic performance.

Collection of data forms an important part of strategy implementation. Specific to bullying, literature such as Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization highlights the importance of accurate data on prevalence and trends in school violence and bullying. It states that evidence-based approaches should be informed by accurate, comprehensive, and disaggregated data. While the department has some of this information through data collection on incidents, this is not currently complete given the limited data available on those who are impacted by bullying. We discuss other forms of data collection, such as surveys, later in this chapter.

Previous reports have proposed improved data collection

Over the last 5 years, international and national inquiries have highlighted the importance of improving data on the school experience of students with disability, including their experiences of bullying.

In 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities raised concerns that there was no national disaggregated data on how many students with disability experienced bullying. It recommended that governments expand existing data collections for students with disability to include the number of bullying incidents.

In October 2020, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the commission) released its interim report. It stated that the New South Wales and Queensland state school systems do not routinely record and use data about the experiences of students with disability. The commission was concerned about the lack of data on the number of students bullied.

In its 2023 final report, the commission recommended that state and territory governments should report data to the Education Ministers Meeting on the educational experiences of students with disability. The data should include the number and type of reports involving violence or abuse against students with disability, including bullying and harassment.

At the time of our audit, the department was still working to address these recommendations. It has committed to working with the Australian Government and other jurisdictions to strengthen data and evidence to support best practice and meet the intent of the recommendation in the Queensland context.

Data on the extent and nature of cyber bullying would be beneficial

Cyber bullying is emerging as an increasing problem. Cyber bullying is a type of bullying that includes the use of technology such as mobile phones and social media. The national eSafety Commissioner reports that nationally there were 2,383 reports of cyber bullying in 2023 compared to 1,700 in 2022 – an increase of 40 per cent (not all incidents are reported to the eSafety Commissioner as there are multiple pathways for parents/carers to seek assistance). The department has recognised this as a problem and has a separate cyber bullying fact sheet for schools and has established the reputation management and cyber safety team to support schools with serious cyber incidents including bullying, as reported in Chapter 5. The department has also implemented a mobile phone ban within its schools.

School staff can record incidents that relate to cyber bullying, however OneSchool does not have a specific identifier for cyber bullying. We conducted analysis of reported bullying incidents from the freeform text describing them to identify words related to cyber bullying. Our analysis in Figure 4B found that since 2013 the number of cyber bullying incidents has increased from 5,144 in 2013 to 7,275 in 2023, an increase of 41.4 per cent. Note that this analysis is only an indicator that cyber bullying may have occurred. The nature of this analysis means it is not as reliable as other data within OneSchool, which details the specific nature of the incident. Appendix D presents further analysis of bullying data.

The department would benefit from the collection of data on the number of cyber bullying incidents to better understand the effectiveness of the student codes of conduct and the recent restrictions to accessing mobile phones in schools. Cyber bullying occurs both within and outside of schools, where students have increased access to social media and other online technologies. This makes it a challenging area for schools to monitor and address. Parents/carers play an important role in monitoring online behaviour. Additional data would assist the department in understanding the extent of cyber bullying. This enhanced understanding could complement its education and collaboration with parents/carers on how to manage cyber bullying behaviours.

The department is improving its use of data, but greater analysis is needed

Schools analyse their data on behaviour incidents to monitor and manage incidents within their school community (including bullying).

The department is improving its collection and use of this school-level information to assist in the management of bullying. In late 2023, the department started a project to analyse the behaviour incidents recorded in OneSchool (see details of this pilot dashboard in the box below). This project remains in the pilot phase and is expected to be finalised in mid-2025. Implementing this will help enhance the department’s understanding of:

• the full extent and nature of student bullying across regions and the state
• schools with higher/lower than average rates of student bullying
• the extent and impact of emerging areas, such as misuse of social media.

Greater understanding of behavioural incidents could support more effective and targeted strategies, including the ability to intervene earlier and identify schools that need additional support to reduce student bullying.

The department monitors and analyses aspects of the metrics and measures included in its Equity and Excellence Strategy and Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework. This includes measures such as suspensions and exclusions, which may occur due to bullying. While this analysis gives the department information about some of the most serious incidents, it does not enable early identification of issues and trends impacting students. The new dashboard will enable this analysis to be undertaken.

Each of the 5 schools we visited analysed student behaviour incident data to identify school-level trends and issues. They commented on how difficult it was to access the data they wanted from OneSchool and the inability to identify students who have experienced bullying. This was impacting their ability to monitor actions undertaken to respond to incidents and ensure resolution.

The department has commenced projects to monitor behaviour incidents

In 2023, the department commenced 2 projects to support stronger monitoring of student behaviour, as described in the box below. The projects will provide schools and the department with a range of new reports, including reports of bullying incidents at both the school and regional levels. The department was still in the piloting phase at the time of the audit, so we were unable to assess the effectiveness of these approaches.

Work in progress Pilot dashboard to monitor student behaviour In late 2023, the department commenced development of a pilot dashboard to monitor behaviour incidents. The dashboard aims to support its Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework by delivering priority intelligence and insights to schools, regions, and central staff. The dashboard will give users access to reports on the full range of behaviour incidents recorded in OneSchool. At the time of this report, the project remains in the pilot phase. The department advised this is expected to be released to all schools in the second half of 2025. Corporate online reporting dashboard The department has developed a corporate online reporting dashboard that will integrate data from multiple source systems, including finance, human resources, and OneSchool. The dashboard aims to provide central and regional staff with better information for strategic planning, oversight, and decision making.  At the time of this report, the project remains in the pilot phase. The department advised this is expected to be released to all schools in 2025. The dashboard will track regional and school performance trends, including bullying.

Monitoring and evaluation of strategies to reduce student bullying

Approaches shown to effectively reduce bullying (see Appendix F) include measures of success and evaluation of the outcomes for students. Given the autonomy provided to schools in how they respond to bullying, it is important that the department monitors whether current approaches are being implemented as intended and are effective.

The department should assess if its approaches to bullying are effective

The department does not measure whether its strategies and policies have the desired impacts on bullying within schools. This is partly due to the lack of defined measures and targets within its strategies. The department undertakes monitoring of broader measures, which may be used as proxy measures for bullying. This includes:

• surveying stakeholders on how behaviour is managed generally and whether students feel safe in schools
• monitoring and measuring measures such as suspensions and exclusion and academic performance.

These areas are important to monitor; however, the absence of specific bullying data and measures limits the department’s ability to know whether its approaches to reducing bullying are working. We discuss the use of surveys further below.

The department has previously undertaken an external evaluation specific to cyber bullying practices, which are a subset of bullying (see the section below for more detail). It also conducts surveys of key stakeholders and monitors school performance in a range of areas. However, this analysis does not relate specifically to bullying and it has therefore not been able to effectively evaluate the outcomes of its policies on bullying to date.

Inconclusive evaluation on cyber bullying processes

In 2023, the department engaged a university to independently evaluate the effectiveness of current processes used to address reported incidents of cyber bullying across all Queensland school sectors (state and non-state).

The evaluation gave the department useful information on the design of its policies and resources related to cyber bullying (which are also available to non-state schools), but not on whether stakeholders thought they were effective. Researchers tried to survey stakeholders, to understand how schools were implementing the materials, but principals of the schools (state and non-state) contacted did not give consent for their schools to participate and no responses were received.

The researchers found the department provides well-outlined policies and resources to schools, with clear responsibilities for staff. However, as the researchers did not receive any responses to their survey, they were unable to determine stakeholder views on the effectiveness of the department’s approaches in reducing bullying.

The evaluation made recommendations to all school sectors (state and non-state) in Queensland including:

• that school-held data from reported incidents be collected, monitored, and analysed to reveal possible patterns
• that supports and resources for schools are strengthened to improve the knowledge of those who may witness a bullying incident
• the need to provide greater clarity to principals on the required response to incidents involving more vulnerable students (especially First Nations students as well as students with disability given the legislative responsibilities in relation to harassment and victimisation).

The department needs more information on parent/carer, student, and staff opinions on the management of student bullying and cyber bullying

The department does not know how satisfied parents/carers, students, and staff are with how schools manage student bullying and cyber bullying. Each year, the department surveys these key stakeholder groups about how well each school manages student behaviour, alongside other key questions aligned to its strategies.

The department does not include survey questions about the extent of bullying or how schools manage it. Without collecting this information from key stakeholders, the department cannot fully understand or assess perceptions of how schools manage bullying. This also limits its ability to identify and respond to changes in the extent or nature of student bullying.

The school opinion survey asks broad questions about how well schools manage student behaviour, which are important for a holistic assessment of its approaches. Figure 4C shows that, since 2021, parents/carers, students, and staff have reported declining positive perceptions of behaviour management. It is unclear whether perceptions of bullying management contribute to this decline.

The department also encourages schools to participate in its optional Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing Survey. In 2023, 121,000 (33 per cent) students from 572 state schools participated. This survey covers 12 aspects of student wellbeing and engagement, but does not ask specific questions about bullying. Other jurisdictions – like South Australia, Victoria, and New Zealand – have wellbeing surveys for schools to administer that cover student perceptions of bullying. Appendix C provides more information on approaches in other jurisdictions.

Regions monitor aspects of school performance, but reviews have not covered bullying to date

Regional performance and assessment meetings occur twice each year across all 8 regions in Queensland, and include follow-up activities and site visits. They focus on how schools are progressing on the priority support measures from the department’s Equity and Excellence Strategy. A team from the central and regional offices meets to review performance data to prioritise support for schools and inform system priorities. The assessments are based on data analysis linked to the achievement of the following priority support measures:

• educational achievement
• attendance
• disciplinary absences (suspensions and exclusions)
• student opinion survey data.

The reviewers use quantitative and qualitative data to inform the regional performance and assessment meetings, including evidence from school reviews. To date, reviews have not specifically focused on bullying. This is an area which school reviews should consider in the future to enable an assessment of bullying management within schools.

Schools are reviewed every 4 years, but not on their anti-bullying policies

The department conducts formal reviews of schools every 4 years. The school reviews consider how schools manage student behaviour generally, but not how schools prevent or respond to bullying specifically.

As a result of the reviews, some schools receive priority support to help them improve in key areas. During 2023, 48 schools were identified as needing priority support. The reviewers identified that improving the management of student behaviour was a common focus.

The department could do more to check that schools have fully implemented its policy to work with parents/carers and develop the student code of conduct. This would help inform any evaluation of the effectiveness of its strategies.

This chapter is about the supports the Department of Education (the department) provides to help schools manage, prevent, and respond to bullying. It covers:

• guidance to engage with parents/carers to develop school anti-bullying policies
• training for school staff to be able to identify and respond to bullying
• resources to support students to use positive behaviours and build respectful relationships
• the support staff who provide wellbeing services to students
• coordination of national initiatives to raise awareness of bullying
• central expertise and support to address individual complex cyber bullying incidents.

Helping schools address the complex challenges associated with bullying

Teachers and schools face a range of workload pressures that include teaching, communicating with parents/carers, lesson planning, and managing student needs and behaviours. Developing school-specific programs and teaching resources, and managing bullying incidents can be challenging and time consuming for schools and teachers. Schools also have the responsibility of managing incidents which may have occurred outside of school and within the broader community (if they affect the good order of the school). This heightens the importance of the department helping schools engage effectively with external stakeholders.

The department provides schools with a wide range of resources to help them manage bullying, such as the Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework materials that help schools raise awareness of bullying and how to manage it. However, it could develop additional resources to support schools to:

• partner with parents/carers to develop holistic anti-bullying programs
• give schools/teachers and support staff better access to anti-bullying training modules.

More guidance will help schools better partner with parents/carers to develop anti-bullying approaches

The department has a framework for parent/carer engagement, titled Parent and Community Engagement (PACE). PACE focuses on traditional engagement approaches such as face-to-face meetings and newsletters. The department could modernise the framework by providing more strategies or examples on the use of modern technologies, such as social media, online events, or communication methods best suited for working parents/carers.

The department requires its schools to develop their local anti-bullying approach in partnership with parents/carers, as part of the student code of conduct (see Chapter 4 for our assessment). It does not provide detailed examples to schools on how to specifically engage parents/carers on complex issues such as bullying.

Without greater guidance to help its schools successfully engage parents/carers, there is a risk that parents/carers may not:

• understand the school’s approach to reducing bullying
• know how to support their child if they are involved in or affected by bullying
• be confident to report any incidents or situations that meet the department’s definition of bullying.

Principals and staff at all 5 schools (out of 1,265 state schools) we attended were not aware of PACE and had not used it. They also commented that it was challenging to get parents/carers to come to face-to-face events to discuss school policies. Given the difficulty schools expressed in engaging with busy parents, the department could pilot a small number of engagement projects in partnership with the peak body, P&Cs Qld. The department could then make the successful approaches available to other schools.

Easier access to anti-bullying training will benefit staff

Effective anti-bullying programs rely on professional development for staff in recognising and responding to bullying. The department could do more to support its schools to ensure all staff can identify bullying and know how to respond. Without a consistent approach to training, individual staff may lack the confidence to act when they see bullying or have it reported to them.

While the department provides training programs and online courses for new and existing teachers on a range of topics, none of the training is specifically about student bullying. In particular, there is an absence of training materials to assist school staff (including teachers and support staff) to recognise and respond to student bullying.

Other states in Australia offer specific anti-bullying training and resources. These include an anti-bullying interventions course, along with a variety of anti-bullying classroom materials, bullying prevention and cyber bullying programs, as well as PowerPoint presentations, student worksheets, and speaking notes for teachers. Queensland could reference these materials in considering the need for additional training for its teachers.

The department mandates that staff complete its safety training annually to keep themselves and others safe. This mandatory training makes it clear that the department has no tolerance for bullying of any kind.

This training covers a range of topics, including student protection responsibilities and ways to foster an inclusive and respectful environment. The department also provides guidelines to assist staff in reporting incidents such as potential harm to students and student online safety, which includes cyber bullying.

The department recently launched a new classroom management hub which could also provide an efficient repository of resources and training modules specific to bullying for staff to access.

New initiative Classroom management hub In 2024, the department released its new classroom management hub, which provides teachers with access to resources that offer an overview of practices teachers can use related to student learning, wellbeing, and behaviour. The hub provides a range of general resources on managing classrooms, building positive relationships, and organising teaching spaces. It also includes teacher tip sheets, tools for self-assessment and observations, and a classroom management implementation guide for school leaders. Presently, it does not provide specific resources for teachers to identify student bullying or strategies to effectively respond to it.

Resources and materials are available for schools to deliver health and wellbeing-related education

There are a range of international and national resources and materials available to schools to promote respectful and positive behaviours in schools. Schools may choose to use them as complete programs or make use of different components to reflect the needs of their students and community. We have summarised some of the key ones here, but there are others schools can access.

Respectful relationship materials

Respectful relationships education is foundational to the establishment of positive school cultures and relationships amongst students. It includes the explicit teaching about what is bullying and the impacts of bullying.

The Respect Program

The Respect Program is aligned to the Australian Curriculum. It provides teachers with age-appropriate teaching and learning resources to support students to develop the skills and knowledge they need to build and maintain healthy, positive relationships. Resources are made available to support respectful relationships education for schools, parents, and students including fact sheets, teaching materials, and links to external agencies and services.

Learning resources

The department’s website includes age-appropriate classroom resources (such as lesson plans and animations) developed to support schools to teach students about cyber safety, with content about cyber bullying, and supported by links to existing external information and professional development.

Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework

Proactive approaches to building the social and emotional competencies of students can help them learn appropriate ways to respond to bullying behaviours. The department has adopted the Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework, which is available for schools to use as part of their curriculum. The framework promotes teaching clear expectations, reinforcing expected behaviours, and using data to monitor effectiveness. It is a well-established and proven approach that focuses on addressing behaviours that could hinder students from focusing on learning.

The Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework is not a whole school anti-bullying program in itself, but provides a framework to support anti-bullying initiatives by effective use of data, ongoing and embedded professional development and coaching for staff, and systems to support adult implementation. Research studies have demonstrated that bullying behaviour can decrease through effective implementation.

In 2023, the department reported that approximately 48 per cent of state schools had fully implemented the framework and were using it to support teachers in creating positive and safe learning environments. The department does not monitor what other frameworks or materials other state schools are using. Four of the schools we visited had fully implemented the framework. The other school was still using the materials to promote positive behaviours.

The department supports its schools with student wellbeing services

Queensland schools are allocated a variety of student support services, including guidance officers, psychologists, social workers, youth workers, chaplains, counsellors, nurses, and school-based police officers. In most cases, these staff allocations are based on the number of students enrolled. They can provide a range of support services to students for a range of wellbeing-related issues, including intensive one-on-one support or small group activities. Schools also have access to telehealth services where in-person is not available.

In 2021, the government allocated $106.7 million for the Student Wellbeing Package, with funding to employ wellbeing professionals to provide mental health support to all state school students. The additional wellbeing professionals complement the department’s existing support structures, contributing to its whole-school approach to supporting students’ wellbeing and mental health. It does not have a specific focus on supporting students affected by bullying, however students requesting support with the effects of bullying would be prioritised according to school policies.

All the support staff at the 5 schools we visited and the peak body for student counsellors (the Queensland Guidance and Counselling Association) commented on the increasing need for support due to the number of students requesting support because of bullying.

The Student Wellbeing Package has enabled regions and schools to provide additional wellbeing support to students. As of September 2024, 635 wellbeing professionals had been employed across the state.

More guidance for schools to address underlying drivers of bullying behaviour

The student codes of conduct (discussed in Chapter 4) include guidance to staff about how to support bullied students and the disciplinary consequences for students bullying. They do not provide guidance to staff on how to refer students to the new wellbeing professionals. The additional guidance officers, counsellors, and child psychologists can support students affected by bullying. There are now opportunities to update the department’s proforma for the student codes of conduct and provide greater guidance to staff on how to connect students who have been subjected to bullying to the appropriate professional.

The department could also provide greater guidance about how to support students who are displaying bullying behaviour, with evidence-based interventions available that can address the underlying drivers of these behaviours. At present, the department’s policies focus on the sanctions available to principals, but provide limited advice about how to support those students displaying persistent bullying behaviour.

Themes from research conducted by child mental health experts support more intensive intervention from a mental health professional to address repeated bullying behaviours (dependent of the bully’s level of aggression). Current research shows that these approaches can be more effective than sanctions.

The department leads and coordinates national anti-bullying initiatives

The department has led the Australian Schools Anti-Bullying Collective since it began in 1999. The collective’s role is to provide centralised services to Australian schools to counter bullying, harassment, and violence. The collective is responsible for the Bullying. No Way! initiative and the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence.

Bullying. No Way!

The Bullying. No Way! initiative raises awareness about what bullying is and how to prevent it. The website hosts a range of fact sheets and video clips about bullying for schools and communities. These are useful resources for schools, students, and parents/carers, but they do not cover bullying in the depth and detail needed by teachers and school staff.

Bullying. No Way! website The website hosts a range of resources for schools, students, and parents/carers about bullying, including: clear definitions of bullying and types of bullying information on understanding, responding to, preventing, and teaching about bullying classroom materials, fact sheets, and professional learning resources updates on anti-bullying campaigns tips for families on collaborating with schools when reporting an incident national legislation and policies regarding bullying, harassment, discrimination, and violence links and contact details for non-school support services.

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

In 2011, the collective established the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence to raise awareness and promote action. It is an annual event, with schools nationwide participating. From 2024, the event was extended to an awareness week, known as Bullying No Way: National Week of Action.

In 2023, a total of 6,418 schools participated in the national day of action, with almost all Queensland’s state schools participating. Queensland accounted for approximately 19.6 per cent of participating schools.

Hosting and participating in awareness raising about bullying is an important initiative. The department could do more to understand if the increased awareness has an impact on reducing bullying and if students are satisfied that schools have the necessary supports to address bullying. While there is an evaluation survey conducted annually, the number of Queensland and state school participants is relatively low and may not be suitable to form conclusions.

The department supports schools with serious cyber incidents

The department’s Cybersafety and Reputation Management team supports schools with resources, advice, and assistance in managing more complex student cyber-related incidents (including cyber bullying). It works closely with:

• schools to investigate, gather, and retain evidence safely and legally
• social media platform providers to remove offensive online content.

The department’s approach to supporting schools has been recognised nationally. In 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended that other jurisdictions consider adopting the model used by the department.

The team has developed cyber safety resources for schools, including age-specific courses, incident guides, and tips for promoting positive online behaviour. The guides cover how to navigate cyber bullying incidents and report content on social media platforms. These resources support schools in responding to cyber-related incidents and provide guidance on how to get additional assistance from other entities such as the Queensland Police Service and the federal eSafety Commissioner.

The team supported schools across the state with 894 cyber-related incidents in the 2022–23 financial year. Schools need this extra help as social media platforms’ complex policies, high volume of requests, and legal obligations can make it difficult for schools to get inappropriate content removed. Figure 5A provides a case study that illustrates how a school escalated a cyber bullying incident to the Cybersafety and Reputation Management team for resolution.