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Student Harassment and Bullying Policy

Policy Statement

South Cheshire College is committed to providing a learning environment which is free of discrimination, harassment or bullying of any kind, whether by students, staff or other parties. The college expects everyone to be treated with respect, regardless of age, disability, family responsibility, marital status, race, colour, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation or other criteria.


Definition of Terms

Harassment
Harassment is any conduct which involves unwanted, unreasonable and offensive conduct. It is a form of discrimination that can include sexist or racist behaviour or negative attitudes to disability or sexuality. Examples of such behaviour may include:
  • insensitive jokes, teasing or ridicule
  • unnecessary body contact
  • expression of prejudiced remarks
  • abuse of a position of authority by a staff member over a student
Such behaviour may not be intended to be harmful, but if it diminishes a person's quality of life or affects their work, that person can claim that they is being harassed.

Bullying
Bullying is a form of harassment that displays the intention of hurting another person. Bullying results in pain and distress to that person.

Bullying can take many forms. Some examples are:
  • emotional: being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting
  • physical: pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence
  • verbal: name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing
  • electronic: emails, text messages
  • racist: racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
  • sexual: unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments
  • homophobic: commenting on/taunting a person because of their perceived sexuality

Objective of this policy

All students should feel able to report incidents of harassment and bullying and know that these will be dealt with promptly, fairly and effectively.


Responsibilities

To help ensure this:
  • All governors, staff, and students should have an understanding of what harassment and bullying are.
  • All governors and staff should know what the policy is on harassment and bullying, and follow it when incidents are reported.
  • All students should know what the policy is on harassment and bullying, and what they should do if they have problems.

Procedures

1. Providing Information & Training to students
Students should be made aware of the Equal Opportunities Policy and related policies and procedures (Race Equality Policy, Harassment and Bullying Policy, Student Disciplinary Code and Complaints Procedure) during induction.

Equality and diversity issues should be included in tutorial programmes and positive attitudes encouraged within the teaching environment.

2. Reporting Incidents to Staff
A student who is being harassed or bullied within college by other students, staff or someone from outside college should report this to a member of staff. This could be:
  • Personal tutor
  • Another member of the teaching staff if preferred.
If the student does not wish to discuss the incident with anyone in their curriculum area, they could contact one of the Student Support staff. For example:
  • Student Advisors or Counsellors
  • Student Liaison Officers
  • College Youth And Community Worker
  • Health and Welfare Manager
3. Examining the Options
The student and the member of staff should then look at the options available and discuss what the student wants to do. Options could include:

TAKING NO ACTION
If the student is afraid that any action may cause the situation to worsen, they may refuse any intervention. The member of staff may then point out that little can be done to help the student, but must respect the student's decision.

However they may consult an appropriate person (such as the Health and Welfare Manager or a counsellor) if the information the student discloses suggests that there is a life-threatening situation or that the student or others are at very real risk of harm.

In situations where it is suspected or reported that children or Vulnerable Adults are being abused, the college is obliged by the Children Act (1989) to take action (see Child Protection Policy for details).
TAKING INFORMAL ACTION
This could take various forms:
  • Dealing with the issue within the area: The member of staff could talk to all those involved, with the student's permission, and agree a resolution. Alternatively, they could ask appropriate staff (for example the Student Advisor, the Student Liaison Officers, the college Youth and Community Worker or the Equality and Diversity Co-ordinator) to do a general session on appropriate and reasonable behaviour.
  • Helping the student to deal with the situation: The member of staff could refer the student for counselling, to help build assertiveness and self-confidence.
  • Using mediation: A mediator, usually a member of staff, acts as an independent third party, bringing together those in conflict and seeks to help them resolve the problem themselves
TAKING FORMAL ACTION
The student will be informed and consulted and his or her wishes respected as far as possible when formal action is taken. But in cases where harassment or bullying puts either the student or others at risk, the college has to intervene because it has a duty of care to all its members.
  • Investigating the complaint: The Quality Manager could be asked to investigate the incident and take appropriate action, with the student's consent. In complex situations or where those involved come from different curriculum areas, the Quality Manager could ask the Equality Coordinator to arrange for a team to investigate the situation. This would consist of staff who have received appropriate training and who have no relationship to the participants or the curriculum area(s) involved. They will seek information, produce a report and make recommendations for further action. Recommendations could include mediation, training for the person(s) harassing or bullying, or disciplinary action. If the recommendations related to a member of staff, this would be passed to the Human Resources Manager.
  • Training for the person(s) harassing or bullying: A training programme could be arranged, on condition that the person(s) involved do not harass or bully the complainant.
  • Using the Disciplinary Code: Where serious misconduct is involved, or where mediation or training fail, then disciplinary procedures should follow. Very serious incidents may result in expulsion.
  • Consulting the police: If necessary and appropriate, the college will consult the Police or advise the student to do so. For example if the student is being 'stalked' or is subject to similar unsocial behaviour, or if they has been sexually assaulted, they may choose to report this. Also, a third party who is offended by a racist incident may report this to the police, without the consent of the person being harassed or attacked.
4. Recording the Incident and Options Decided
The information given by the student should be recorded only with his or her consent. It should be shared with others only by consent. If the student is not prepared to give this consent, or wishes to restrict access to that information, the member of staff should ask the student to complete a Consent to Process Sensitive Information form (97kb Adobe Acrobat document)*. All information relating to the incident should then be kept confidential and not form part of the student's general record.


DECEMBER 2008


**Adobe Acrobat files. If you have any difficulties accessing, or if they display incorrectly, you will need the latest edition of Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded FREE from www.adobe.com.