Abstract

Despite three decades of research and development of anti-bullying intervention, this form of systematic aggression continues to be common in schools. The present study investigated if a contributing factor might be that some pupils are unreceptive to teachers? anti-bullying lessons. It invited 8?11?-year-old junior school pupils (N?=?227) to indicate if this was the case, and if so, to give their reasons. Many did indicate being unreceptive (81.9%). The most common reason was ?It is not for me because I don?t bully anyone? (81.9%), followed by ?I know enough about bullying already? (22.9%), ?It is boring or I have heard it all before? (19.4%) and ?Teachers have to do it but they are not really interested in stopping bullying? (14.5%). Some significant age differences emerged. Results are discussed in terms of implications for anti-bullying work in schools