Special report by John McAllister, former teacher at Aldenham School

ALTHOUGH a recent correspondent highlighted secondary transfer as the most taxing question in the county at present, I believe the dramatic increase in bullying is equally serious.

Our schools are becoming ever more disrupted by bullying and the problem can no longer be ignored, for it is this cult of "violence" that can undermine the whole education process.

In recent weeks, two girls have been viciously attacked by their peers and as a result have been mentally and physically scarred for life. A teenage boy is starting a murder sentence, having turned on his tormentor in sheer desperation.

Childline reports a marked increase in calls about bullying since 2004, there were almost 10,000 permanent expulsions from school in 2004 and half of these were for violence and threats against pupils and teachers.

In short, England is gripped by an epidemic of bullying.

The general reaction to the horror stories is to express shock but very little in the way of a solution.

It is far easier to write about inflated results, cheating and the resistance of dinner ladies to healthy eating.

However, if unchecked, bullying will lead to a level of ill-discipline that will in turn challenge the very structure of many schools.

Education, primarily, is about people or, more specifically, the pupils, and it is the duty of the parent and teacher to continue to create an atmosphere where pupils not only can learn without fear of retribution but in which they actually want to learn.

Bullying, real or perceived, is the single biggest threat to that ethos.

A recent crusade to make poverty history was a clarion call to the conscience of the developed world. Why can we not take a similar challenge into the classroom, the playground and even behind the proverbial bike shed?

In official circles there is clear division on the correct approach. On the one side stands the anti-bullying alliance, the three-year-old "think tank" and recipient of more than £1million of government funds, which favours "no blame" mediation between bullies and victims.

On the other side is Bullying Online, which argues, convincingly in my opinion, that conciliation provides more ammunition for the bully.

With officials impotent or indecisive, who can restore a sense of stability and discipline?

Parents can no longer divorce themselves from their responsibility and teachers must be given the authority and the backing to deal with the transgressor.

However, the real key to driving bullying out of our schools lies with the bystander. When a young child was recently asked to depict a bullying scene, he drew three figures the victim, the bully and the bystander.

It is with the peers of both victim and bully that the real solution lies; it is with the prefects, the sixth-formers, the form captains, the team captains and the leader of the orchestra. In recent years and in most schools, government concerns and health and safety regulations have effectively emasculated these leaders of the future.

Restore that power, reinvigorate their sense of commitment and their awareness of their responsibilities then, and only then, will our schools in Hertfordshire at least be able to consider rendering bullying to history. I hope that there are those who will wish to accept this challenge.

In brief we must: Ensure that avenues of communication are always open.

There must be a clear discussion with the victim to identify why the bullying occurs, for sometimes the victim can himself invite bullying.

The bully must be identified and confronted with the consequences of his or her actions.

Bystanders must be mobilised to reject these repulsive actions.

The authorities must be given the power to take such decisive action against the perpetrator that will seriously discourage repetition.

There is sadly, however, no quick answer to this endemic evil but only when a majority is prepared to bite the bullet and to stand up and be counted, will the tide be reversed. I can only refer again to the trinity of pupil, parent and teacher. United they can win, divided and indifferent they will surely fail, and that will be disastrous for the future of our children.

l Many readers will have seen that Bristol City Council has included a "no blame" option in its anti-bullying advice to schools.

This is in line with the policy advocated by the government-funded Anti-Bullying Alliance. Bristol's action was queried during Question Time in the Commons and ministers have indicated that they will shortly legislate to ensure that the no-blame approach is dumped.