The number of suspensions handed out to pupils for bullying in the North’s secondary schools is in decline.
There were 179 suspensions for bullying in 2013/14, down from 224 and 219 in the two previous years.
The Department of Education wants to see instances fall further and is now undertaking a consultation on addressing bullying in schools.
At present, schools are required to record incidents and provide annual returns to the department on the total number of suspensions and expulsions as a result of bullying behaviour.
However, the specific details of the motivation behind each incident and the outcome are not currently provided.
There is also no agreed definition of bullying, which minister John O’Dowd says can lead to confusion as to what constitutes bullying and can lead to inconsistent approaches in how schools handle reported incidents.
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