A new TV and online campaign is launched on Tuesday to combat bullying at school.

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EDUCATION

One in ten French pupils bullied at school

A new TV and online campaign is launched on Tuesday to combat bullying at school.

Published: 24 January 2012 09:24 CET
One in ten French pupils bullied at school
Anti-bullying website

Government figures estimate that one in ten children suffer from bullying at school, reported daily newspaper 20 Minutes.

Three films show the impact bullying can have on the victims and try to life the taboo on talking about the problem.

“If France has woken up to this problem later than some other countries, we hope that the use of many media channels can help create a virtuous circle,” said Eric Debarbieux, a researcher who has spearheaded the campaign with the education ministry.

The films will be shown on TV and distributed through social networks including YouTube and dailymotion.

One film shows the effects of gossip while another focuses on a boy who is taunted over his weight. A third film, shown below, shows pupils picking on a boy by slapping him and provoking him.

In all the films, a pupil is shown observing the bullying and wondering whether he should take action.

A website has been set up to offer support to pupils who are victims of bullying and also to advise others who see bullying taking place: agircontreleharcelementalecole.gouv.fr

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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