€60k Announced To Support Anti-Bullying Training Session For Parents

Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, has announced that €60,000 is to be provided to support the delivery of anti-bullying training sessions for parents.

The Anti-Bullying Parent Training Programme is being run jointly by the National Parents Council Primary (NPC-P) and the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPC-PP) to support the implementation of the Action Plan on Bullying which called for training and resources for parents and boards of management.

Announcing the funding at St Joseph's NS in Eastwall, Dublin, Minister Quinn said: "I am very pleased to announce today that my Department will provide funding of €60,000 for Anti-Bullying Parent Training in 2014. This is the second year that my Department has supported this invaluable work which reaches out directly to parents.

"The training sessions are available nationwide and provide supports to parents to enable them to assist their children when issues of bullying arise.

"Bullying is not a problem schools can or should be left to tackle alone. Parents, families and the wider community have an important role to play in tackling all forms of bullying and in teaching children how to manage relationships, be resilient and have empathy for others."

Last year, the Department provided funding of €60,000 to support the delivery of 105 anti-bullying parent training sessions to 3,279 participants nationwide.

The Parents Councils have also developed an information leaflet for parents and these can be downloaded from their websites.

Over 90% of parents who attended the training sessions last year said that they felt more confident in supporting their child with a bullying issue following the session. Likewise, more than 90% said they felt more confident engaging with their school if a bullying issue arose with their child.

(CD/JP)