No parent wants to think of their child as a bully. But what if they are?

It’s something no parent ever wants to hear – that their child has been involved in bullying. Unfortunately, the practice remains prevalent in Australia, and parents may find themselves having difficult conversations with their kids, whatever side of the coin they may fall on. A report from May this year found that Australian students are bullied at rates higher than comparable English-speaking countries, with one in six students saying they had been made fun of at school.

The latest figures from UNESCO estimate that one in three students around the world are bullied each day. Australian school students are bullied at rates higher than comparable English-speaking countries, a recent report found. Credit: Getty Images What is bullying, and what drives it? Barbara Spears, an adjunct professor of education and social development at the University of South Australia, says bullying is a learned behaviour that is aggressive, deliberate and intentional.

“It’s designed for the person to achieve some sort of goal,” she says. With younger children, this goal is typically something tangible, such as taking a toy. As children get older, Spears says, it becomes more about soft power.

“It’s often more about the social goals and the relationships around them. It’s about, ‘How can I use my social power to get what I want?’” There is no one type of bully, nor is there a single factor that drives someone to bully. Dr Marie Yap, a professor and psychologist at Monash Unive.