I attended a small primary school (ages 4-11) and witnessed no bullying.
Whilst in secondary school (ages 11-16) I witnessed various attempts at bullying of the psychological kind- very little if anything physical. It only came to my attention recently (thanks to a former teacher) that I had avoided bullying because they had "tried" and I didn't realise and didn't care about them, which is a death knell for psychological bullying.
Whilst in 'sixth form' (16-18) I observed significant bullying of the TV/film kind. A kid who associated with the "high performing idiots" group was thrown into a hedge outside the school practically every day. The staff were aware but never witnessed it, and the student being assaulted never reported his 'friends'. He was also repeatedly the butt of psychological bullying.
In my view this occurred because the school repeatedly failed to disrupt the friendship group that had an unhealthy dynamic. After talking to teachers I found out that a common technique is to ensure the friends aren't in the same classes, and when they are to disrupt their seating. Their friendship should dwindle and they will form relationships with others.
In the sixth form case these students had persisted as they were all high achievers - schools are incentivised not to move children out of "top set" classes, and to let them stay together as they were more disruptive to other students apart.
Whilst in secondary school (ages 11-16) I witnessed various attempts at bullying of the psychological kind- very little if anything physical. It only came to my attention recently (thanks to a former teacher) that I had avoided bullying because they had "tried" and I didn't realise and didn't care about them, which is a death knell for psychological bullying.
Whilst in 'sixth form' (16-18) I observed significant bullying of the TV/film kind. A kid who associated with the "high performing idiots" group was thrown into a hedge outside the school practically every day. The staff were aware but never witnessed it, and the student being assaulted never reported his 'friends'. He was also repeatedly the butt of psychological bullying.
In my view this occurred because the school repeatedly failed to disrupt the friendship group that had an unhealthy dynamic. After talking to teachers I found out that a common technique is to ensure the friends aren't in the same classes, and when they are to disrupt their seating. Their friendship should dwindle and they will form relationships with others.
In the sixth form case these students had persisted as they were all high achievers - schools are incentivised not to move children out of "top set" classes, and to let them stay together as they were more disruptive to other students apart.