What is school bullying: a complete guide to detection and typologies - school bullying

School bullying, commonly known as bullying, has ceased to be "kids' stuff" and has become a public health and educational priority. However, there is still great confusion about what it really is and what it is not. Is a fight on the playground bullying? Is a one-off insult bullying? In this comprehensive guide, the basis of our School Bullying Course, we break down the technical definition, identification criteria and the types that every education professional should know.

Technical Definition: Difference between Conflict and Bullying

To intervene effectively, we must first diagnose correctly. Many parents and teachers confuse peer conflicts with situations of bullying. The expert Dan Olweus defines bullying based on three fundamental pillars that must be met simultaneously:

• Intentionality: The aggressor has the conscious intent to cause harm. It is not an accident or a badly interpreted joke; there is a desire to hurt the other person physically or psychologically.
• Repetition over time: It is not an isolated incident. Bullying is a pattern of behavior that repeats. The victim lives with the anguish of knowing the attack will happen again tomorrow, next week or next month. This repetition is what generates deep psychological trauma.
• Power imbalance: This is the most important key. In a normal conflict, both parties have similar strength (physical or social). In bullying, there is an asymmetry. The victim feels helpless and cannot get out of the situation on their own, while the aggressor abuses their position of power (physical strength, social popularity, or group support).

Types of School Bullying: Beyond the Physical

When we think of bullying, we usually imagine physical assaults. However, the most harmful forms are often the most invisible. In our course we analyze each of these categories in depth:

1. Physical Bullying

It is the most evident and easiest to detect, although it is often only the tip of the iceberg.

• Direct: Hitting, pushing, kicking, tripping or assaults with objects.
• Indirect: Damage to the victim's belongings. Stealing school supplies, ripping the backpack, hiding books or soiling clothes. The aim is to destabilize the victim by attacking their possessions.

2. Verbal Bullying

It is the most frequent form in primary and secondary education. Words leave invisible scars that can last a lifetime.

• Insults and Nicknames: Giving degrading nicknames related to appearance, race, sexual orientation or intellectual ability.
• Rumors and Slander: Spreading lies about the victim to damage their social reputation in front of the group.
• Threats: Coercion to force the victim to do things they do not want to do (give me your money, do my homework) under the threat of physical violence.

3. Social Bullying (The Silent Bullying)

This is the type of bullying most difficult for teachers to detect, but one of the most psychologically devastating. It is based on exclusion and isolation.

• Active Exclusion: "You can't play," "Don't sit here." Deliberately preventing the victim from participating in activities.
• Passive Exclusion (Ignoring): Ignoring the victim as if they did not exist. Not speaking to them, not looking at them, giving them the cold shoulder. This produces in the child a sense of "non-existence" that destroys self-esteem.

4. Cyberbullying (24/7 Bullying)

The advent of new technologies has removed the only refuge the victim had: their home. Now the bullying continues 24 hours a day through mobile phones.

• Harassment on Social Media: Offensive comments on Instagram, TikTok or WhatsApp groups.
• Sharing Images: Sharing humiliating photos or videos (real or manipulated) to make the mockery go viral.
• Doxing and Impersonation: Stealing passwords to impersonate the victim and put them in compromising situations or publish private information.

Consequences of Non-Intervention

Minimizing the problem with phrases like "it's just kids being kids" is serious negligence. The consequences of school bullying affect everyone involved:

For the Victim: Academic failure, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm and, in the most severe cases, suicidal ideation. Post-traumatic stress disorder is common in adults who suffered bullying.

For the Aggressor: If their behavior is not corrected, they learn that violence is a valid way to achieve goals. There is a high correlation between being a school bully and having criminal behavior or domestic violence in adulthood.

For Bystanders: They learn to be passive in the face of injustice, developing a desensitization to others' pain or living in fear of being next.

Detecting these signs in time saves lives. Specialized training in school bullying is not just a CV credential; it is an indispensable tool to guarantee the safety and well-being of minors in our classrooms.