Laura Rajala says she had to endure bullying in upper comprehensive school. Her home town of Lappeenranta and the surrounding South Karelia region of Eastern Finland is now taking a tougher stance on school bullying, and Rajala, who just started high school, says she approves.
"This shows that bullying is not acceptable in any instance and it is an unlawful act," she asserted. According to the new school bullying policy of South Karelia, suspected offences will be handled directly by the police or social services.
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"Too often, schools have dealt with bullying internally, even in cases that bear the characteristics of a crime," said Jyrki Auronen, principal of the Voisalmi school in Lappeenranta who headed the task force assigned with developing the new model. School representatives from South Karelia say that extreme cases of bullying were not always dealt with outside school walls and that this is the primary reason behind the move.
"Schools have been given guidance on how to handle such situations. They assess the situation and file criminal reports accordingly," Detective Joni Mukala of the Southeastern Finland Police Department told Yle.
Schools now more likely to report crimes
The new model has been implemented on a wide scale in Southern Karelia, with participation from school, police, social and district health representatives. More serious violations will no longer be considered under the umbrella term 'bullying.'
"The term 'bullying' downplays the act. It is simply a series of unlawful actions," Auronen emphasised. Illegal activities that can take place at schools include assault, unlawful threats, theft, defamation and violation of privacy. "The most common issues are assault and cases of social media and online bullying," he said.
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Authorities indicate that schools will now be more likely to file criminal reports concerning students. Sari Suikkanen, legal advisor for children and youth in South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote), said she believes that more bullying victims will come forward.
"It’s quite good that these issues will start to be brought forward and resolved," she said. Saukkanen says schools have already inquired about when they can start reporting alleged crimes.
According to the Trade Union of Education in Finland, OAJ, the Southern Karelian model is not widely implemented in Finland. Education manager Nina Lahtinen said the approach should be adopted more extensively.
"It is a great model when it comes to more extreme bullying cases," she added. According to Auronen, certain extreme bullying cases in Southern Karelia schools were handled deftly by the police.
Schools to retain disciplinary responsibility
Auronen stressed that the onus of disciplinary action will not be transferred to the police.
"The normal growth and development of a child includes minor spats and squabbles at school. This is routine, and schools will deal with it in their own way," he said.
Auronen emphasised that the division of responsibilities between schools and other authorities is still to be clarified. "A school might have traditionally had their own methods of dealing with serious issues, but that has changed now," he said.
The new method is not intended to facilitate intimidation or fabrication of crimes.
"We want to prevent tragic incidents. The intention is to spread awareness about this approach and reduce illegal activities in schools," said Auronen.
Information about the new approach has been provided to students and sent to parents via the national schools' messaging service. Wilma. The issue has also been addressed at parent-teacher meetings. Additionally, teachers have been trained to use the new method when dealing with bullying. Police working with children and young adults welcome the reform.
"We have had good experiences collaborating with social services to handle these issues. The cases have hardly ever been reopened," said Mukala.