Why don’t students tell teachers?

FAQ: One parent was very upset because I didn’t do anything about his son being bullied. But I didn’t know. Why didn’t he tell me so I could deal with it?

Put simply, a student doesn’t report bullying when they decide the risk is too great. It may be they don’t trust us not to make the situation worse by embarrassing them or worse still, by making the student who bullied them angry. Sometimes the student doesn’t think we will be interested or able to help. ‘I told my teacher last year but they didn’t do anything.’ Or perhaps they don’t consider the bullying serious enough. ‘They won’t let me be on their team.’ Or they think they have a better option. ‘I told my sister and she said I should ignore them.’ Sometimes the student who is being bullied may not even recognise they are being bullied.

_{Children often fear the consequences of others finding out they have told the teacher about bullying behaviour. © QUT}