Guidelines

Principals are a key agent in the prevention and intervention against bullying, a risk factor of early school leaving. Their main task is to promote and encourage the actions of other agents, that is teachers, families and students. They should also take into account the needs arising from such actions to address them. Some of these needs are sometimes related to the times and places, so that meeting and working together could be sometimes difficult. Also, they should recognize the work done in this area by teachers and other professionals. Therefore the headteachers, in order to act properly, should have a deep knowledge of the problem to be coped with, and they should be sensitive to the variety of groups involved, as well as to the different ways of confrontation. The following steps may be helpful, so that principals can promote appropriate interventions against bullying.