Make the fight against harassment an “absolute priority” at the start of the next school year: this is the announcement made by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne after the suicide of young Lindsay. A month after the death of the teenager who killed herself on May 12 after an ordeal of several months, the emotion remains strong. Will this drama mark a turning point in the fight against school bullying? The Ministry of National Education has promised “additional resources” and multiplied announcements such as the request to report to prosecutors concerning facts of concern, the creation of a referent in each establishment (nurse, CPE, teacher), the extension of the pHARe program in high schools, or the organization of an hour of awareness in each college.
This was not enough to alleviate the anger of Lindsay’s parents who, for their part, filed a complaint against the management of the establishment, against the Lille academy, against the police or even against Facebook. Four students were also indicted for “school harassment leading to suicide”, as well as an adult for “death threats”. This case will have brought to light the cascade of failures that led to this fatal outcome. A “collective failure”, acknowledged Minister Pap Ndiaye.
When it comes to school bullying, hasn’t France turned a blind eye for too long? “Yes, we are very late compared to some of our European neighbors, and in particular to the Scandinavian countries”, answers Jean-Pierre Bellon, director of the Center for resources and systemic studies against school bullying (Resis). For this specialist in the subject, certain reflexes die hard: “Generations of heads of establishments or CPEs have been trained in the idea that harassment does not really exist or that certain proven facts are not so serious as That.” According to statistics, between 800,000 and one million students are victims of bullying each year, or 6 to 10% of the workforce! However, it will be necessary to wait until 2019 for the education code to provide that “no pupil or student should be subjected to acts of harassment resulting from remarks or behavior, committed within the educational establishment or on the margins of the school and university life.
School and criminal responses already exist, as Valérie Piau, a leading lawyer in school harassment cases, recalls: “But these actions are not part of the same time and do not pursue exactly the same goal.” The range of disciplinary sanctions ranges from a warning to temporary or even definitive exclusion from the establishment, including accountability measures. But, in the field, the headteacher often has to deal with complex situations. “In the Lindsay affair, the exclusion of one of the authors had been pronounced but we see that this was not enough”, underlines Bruno Bobkiewicz, secretary general of SNPDEN-Unsa. “If, in this specific case, the distinction between the victim and his attackers seems clear, it is not always so, adds the principal. The responsibilities of each other are sometimes very intertwined and it can happen that a pupil bullied one day turns into a bully the next.” The teaching staff also does not necessarily have access to the social networks through which their students communicate and the evidence provided – such as screenshots – is not always sufficient.
The mission of the educational team, although delicate, is essential. This has been demonstrated by Benoît Galand, doctor of psychology and professor of education sciences at the Catholic University of Louvain, in several studies carried out on the subject. “Our work has highlighted the link between the way teachers manage discipline in their class and the frequency of cases of bullying,” explains the Belgian researcher. Clearly, the more the teachers intervene in the event of confrontations or insults between adolescents, the more the risk of harassment is reduced. “If young people see that adults are intervening and fulfilling one of their missions, which is to ensure the safety of students, they will feel more confident to speak,” insists the specialist. But it happens that teachers look the other way. “Even that some, without necessarily wanting it, make a student an easy scapegoat”, denounces Valérie Piau. “This week, I had to deal with the case of a pupil described as ‘Calimero’ by his teacher. A sort of blank check for his classmates who, on leaving class, fell on him to make fun of his ‘frailty'”, she says.
“Some academies are dragging their feet”
Another pitfall faced by the families of children who are victims of bullying is that the people who can help them are not always clearly identified. Hence the importance of the pHARe program tested in several academies since 2019 and extended throughout the territory from the start of the 2023 school year. The main lines? Measure the school climate, appoint “five resource personnel” per college, designate student ambassadors, organize training for teaching teams… “In eight academies where this plan is applied, the results are very satisfactory since the rate of resolved situations has rises to 81.5%. Unfortunately, if some are very advanced, others are still dragging their feet”, analyzes Jean-Pierre Bellon who participated in the development of this protocol.
More and more parents, vexed by the silence of the school institution, are now turning to the legal route. The law of March 2, 2022, brought by MoDem deputy Erwan Balanant, recently marked a turning point since it recognizes school bullying as a criminal offense that can be punished by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. Sentences increased to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros when the facts led the victim to commit suicide or to attempt to commit suicide. “This law may seem self-evident today but it required a long work of conviction”, confides Erwan Balanant, recalling that juvenile justice adapts sentences according to age. There is “no question of sending children to prison”, notes Valérie Piau, however convinced that “the fear of the gendarme” can have an influence on the behavior of children… as well as on those of parents.
And the lawyer to insist on the responsibility of the latter in certain cases. “Not only do they risk a financial penalty in the event that their child is recognized as a bully, but an investigation can also be carried out to verify that there have been no educational deficiencies. In extreme cases, the judge can decide placement in a home”, explains Valérie Piau, sometimes consulted by these parents of teenagers in question. Some tend to trivialize the facts alleged against their child by saying that “it was for fun” or that “it’s kid stuff”. Others say they are helpless. The first Opinion Way parenting barometer carried out by the MAE, the leader in school insurance in France, recently revealed that 25% of parents fear that their child will become a bully or cyberbully. And 56% of them worry that their child will become a target himself. “It is urgent to organize prevention campaigns to remind parents of their role, to encourage them to better monitor their children’s online activity”, insists Virginie Gervaise, member of the National Union of Autonomous Parents’ Associations. students. On June 13, Pap Ndiaye rightly announced the launch of a major campaign on television, on social networks and through posters.
There remains the crucial role of the platforms supposed to play a role of moderation and regulation of content. But experience has shown their ineffectiveness. “Today, they have to hear the societal pressure and stop discarding,” insists Erwan Balanant. Because the situation has changed: “Before, a child who was harassed at school could have a moment of respite at home in the evening, take the time to rebuild himself and think about a reaction strategy. Which is no longer the case “. From the end of August, a European regulation on digital services (DSA) should make it possible to impose fines on Internet giants who do not respect their obligations.