Critical issues for teacher training to counter bullying and victimisationin Ireland

This paper addresses the need on a national scale for formal preservice and inservice training programmes for teachers on bullying and victimisation, It also discusses the areas of teacher training that are believed to be mos t critical in effecting a change in the level of bullying and victimisation in schools. The need for training of teachers was crystallised in Ireland recently by the tragic death of a young student who had been bullied for 5 years at school. Particular attention is paid in this paper to the need for teachers to understand the importance of self-esteem in bullying behaviour . Results are presented that indicate that children and adolescents who bul ly share with victims lower levels of self-esteem than peers who have never bullied or been bullied. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.