MEDIATION #167
So far the Mediator has met privately with The Schoolboy, His Parents, The Irresponsible Form Teacher and the Head. Now you meet with the Chair of Governors – new to the post and unsettled about how to deal with the problem. He has reported to his Committee and there are mixed views – some want to keep the whole issue quiet, others think events have moved too far. You have decided to give the Common Room a miss believing that other internal school administration issues will emerge which are not on your agenda.
Your prime consideration is with the Boy – in a sense the cat is out of the bag. The giggling fellow pupils have activated the rumour mill. What steps can be taken to protect the Boy from playground provocation? The Father, initially angry + self-concerned with the implications for his political career, is beginning to see the wider picture for his Son, and here the Wife is constructive. That boil may have been lanced.
As the Mediator, you are fortunate to be engaging with a warm-hearted Head of School who has been in the post for 7 years. She is alert to the rumbling from some in the Common Room and even on the School Council who are out of touch with rapidly arising gender issues in society and who adopt a tetchy hardline “sort yourselves out approach”.
You are beginning to see a way forward – awkward and challenging but you are encouraged with what you have observed in the School and elsewhere in your general reading of education periodicals + discussions with colleagues in teaching about the issue of Bullying.
You engage with the Head. Was it a big problem? How did she deal with it? How did she handle the victims, the pupils, the parents and the school generally? Did she make any mistakes looking back?
EPISODE 5 – MONDAY 30 AUGUST
THE MEDIATOR MAKES A MOVE
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