Bullying in schools is becoming increasingly stressful for parents who feel uncomfortable about approaching principals and for students who have to contend with new forms of cyber and text bullying, according to a parents' support group.
In some instances, parents are withdrawing their children from school rather than confronting school personnel, according to Rita O'Reilly, manager of parent support group Parentline.
Calls to the helpline are increasingly from parents distressed at the lack of support from schools.
Last year, 43 per cent of the children being bullied were boys and 57 per cent were girls, according to the group's annual report.
"A lot of parents are hesitant about approaching the school. Often they don't know how they should go about it, what procedures are in place and worry how the school will respond and if the complaint will actually affect the teacher's treatment of their child," said Ms O'Reilly.
She said that without open procedures for addressing bullying in schools, parents will remain fearful of the "repercussions of raising the issue".
With the ever-increasing popularity of photograph and text messaging and e-mailing, there has also been a notable increase in the number of calls to Parentline regarding "nasty messages".
"The mobile phones are young people's mode of communication. They are part of their everyday life and they bring it with them into bullying. A message in writing is always worse, because there is a constant reminder there. . . on the other hand, it also provides evidence of the bullying," she said.
Prof Mona O'Moore, founder and co-ordinator of the Anti-Bullying Centre in Trinity College, said that more research is required on the approaches necessary for tackling bullying.
She said there was ample anecdotal evidence to suggest that bullying is now an established problem in schools but that many schools remain closed and defensive when dealing with complaints from concerned parents.
"It seems that girls are getting more physical in their ways of responding to other girls. There is definitely more group bullying going on because there is a sense of shared responsibility amongst young people," she said.