Summary
This content analysis examined 100 primary and post-primary school anti-bullying policies in Northern Ireland using a standardised 36-item scoring framework. Schools demonstrated inconsistent policy coverage, with most addressing common bullying forms (physical, verbal, relational, material, cyberbullying) but fewer addressing contextualised forms (racist, homophobic, sexual, disability-related, religion-related). A significant gap emerged in policy documentation regarding incident recording systems, coordination structures, and mechanisms for evaluating policy effectiveness—findings contextualised against emerging anti-bullying legislation.
UK applicability
The findings are directly applicable to England, Wales, and Scotland, as the methodology and policy benchmarks align with earlier English studies and UK school governance frameworks. The identified gaps in incident recording and evaluation procedures are likely representative of policy implementation challenges across the United Kingdom.
Key measures
36-item policy scoring scheme; percentage of schools including specific bullying forms (physical, verbal, relational, material, cyberbullying, racist, homophobic, sexual, adult/teacher–pupil, disability-related, religion-related); policy documentation of incident recording procedures, coordination roles, and data evaluation methods
Outcomes reported
The study analysed the comprehensiveness of anti-bullying policies in Northern Irish schools against a 36-item scoring scheme, examining policy coverage of different bullying types and data management practices. Schools achieved a mean policy score of 52%, with variable coverage of bullying forms and limited documentation of incident recording and evaluation procedures.
Topic tags
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.