By Katie Ferguson, Service director, respectme

BULLYING touches the lives of almost every child and young person in some way. Its impact can be significant and varied, undermining mental health, wellbeing, and educational attainment.

Fundamental to addressing bullying behaviour is an understanding of respect, and how it impacts on building healthy and positive relationships. The concept of respect can go unexplored with children and young people, and conversations about what is means for them in their daily lives often are often overlooked.

The exploration of this issue forms the basis for this year’s anti-bullying campaign #ChooseRespect, which aims to get children and young people to form a deeper understanding of how, and why, they should choose respect.

This in itself has its challenges. A lack of understanding about respect contributes to bullying behaviour and these bullying behaviours continue to adapt to ever-changing digital platforms. What was traditionally seen as playground-based has now become multifaceted, and continues to evolve.

Prejudice-based bullying, including racist and transphobic bullying, is a reality for too many young people in Scotland today and when this behaviour plays out online in seemingly unseen ways, it can be extremely difficult for teachers and parents to know how to respond.

The amount of children online aged 3-4 and 5-7 jumped by 10 per cent between 2016 and 2017 (Ofcom’s Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2017) – with many parents unaware of minimum age restrictions in place for the popular social networking sites, or apps, young people are using.

The recently-published Addressing Childhood Development: Milestones in the Digital Environment Report stressed that digital habits start young and impact the journey to adulthood. It’s up to us to make it a safe place for young people – we cannot solely rely on the digital resilience of children.

Bearing this in mind, our #ChooseRespect campaign, launched ahead of Anti-Bullying Week (November 12-16), is about more than simply asking young people not to bully – it’s about equipping young people with a greater understanding of their own behaviour and the impact their behaviour can have on other people.

To achieve this, young people need continuous opportunities to learn about respect, to discuss it with their peers and apply it to the everyday situations they are in. That’s why, for the first time, our campaign will last the entire school year, spanning across four stages – Self Reflection (November), Celebrating Difference (January), Building Empathy (March) and Positive Relationships (May).

With each stage, we have developed a specific suite of assets designed to support young people on the #ChooseRespect journey. These resources and activities are available to all those involved in influencing the lives of young people, and will further explore each topic, helping spark the important conversations that could ultimately alter the direction of young people’s lives.

#ChooseRespect extends beyond the classroom, with the role of youth groups, societies and clubs deeply important in building citizenship, respect for human rights and fostering a sense of mutual responsibility. We’ll be working closely with all these groups over the course of the campaign to help embed and share learning.

We’re urging schools, teachers, youth workers, community group leaders, sports coaches – anyone involved in influencing the lives of young people – to access our materials over the course of the campaign, tailored to equip young people with the tools and knowledge they need to ultimately form positive relationships.

We want Scotland to choose respect, and we’ll be engaging with schools and youth groups up and down the country to determine the difference the #ChooseRespect campaign is making locally.

* See www.chooserespect.scot