Illustration of bullying at school. – DURAND FLORENCE / SIPA
The fight against harassment, “it’s a fight, (…) it involves everyone,” said Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer to explain the implementation as soon as the next school year in middle and high schools. ‘teams specially trained to deal with bullying at school. These brigades will also have student “ambassadors” to fight against this phenomenon, announced the government on Friday during a presentation of these new measures with the wife of the Head of State Brigitte Macron in a college in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne (Essonne), in the great Parisian suburbs.
Since September 2019, a “turnkey” anti-bullying program has been tested in six academies, where teams from certain establishments were specifically trained in handling bullying situations, and where students were involved in combating this phenomenon. , notably thanks to the designation of “no harassment” ambassadors ”.
The quality of the school climate measured
This program will now be generalized to all 5,200 colleges and 3,300 high schools in France, explained the director general of school education, Edouard Jeffray. Each establishment will have to equip itself with a team “of several people trained in the specific management of harassment, thanks in particular to a distance training which will be put online from September”, he detailed.
All colleges and high schools must also have student ambassadors against harassment, “at least four to five per establishment”. According to Edouard Jeffray, “what works best in this area is when the students talk to each other”. With this in mind, the quality of the school climate will also be measured in each establishment and the college life councils, which bring together student representatives, will be invited to take up the subject in order to imagine actions in their establishment. Since 2019, the right of students to attend school without harassment has been enshrined in law.
“We have not succeeded in reducing cyberstalking”
The government has also extended the opening hours of numbers against harassment (30-20) and cyberstalking (30-18), and increased the number of academic advisers on the subject. They are now 350 in France, against 30 in 2014 according to Edouard Jeffray, and intervene in the most difficult cases of harassment, or to train teachers.
“We still have progress to make” judged Jean-Michel Blanquer. “In recent years, we have managed to reduce harassment a little, (…) but we have not succeeded in reducing cyberstalking”, a phenomenon which has worsened in particular during the health crisis, he said. recalled.