How to recognize school bullying : the complete guide for educational teams

In France, one in ten students is a victim of school bullying during their schooling. Behind this statistic, hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers live every day in fear, disgust for school, shame, and sometimes despair. However, studies consistently show that the majority of bullying situations could have been detected earlier if the adults in the institution had known how to spot the signs.

The problem is not the indifference of education professionals. Teachers, school counselors, educational assistants, school life staff, directors: all are concerned, all often feel helpless. Bullying is a reality that is sometimes minimized — because it is uncomfortable, because it seems difficult to prove, because the boundaries with ordinary conflicts are blurred. And because no one is trained to spot it accurately.

This guide has been designed to fill this gap. It is aimed at all professionals working in a school setting, from primary to high school, with a single objective: to provide you with concrete tools to recognize bullying, understand its dynamics, and act appropriately. Because every situation spotted in time is a preserved life trajectory.

1. School harassment: what are we really talking about?

The first difficulty in the fight against school harassment is terminological. The word is often misused, either to qualify occasional conflicts that do not meet the criteria for harassment, or conversely avoided to describe situations that fully correspond to it. Clarifying the definition is therefore the first step.

The three fundamental criteria

School harassment is defined by the conjunction of three inseparable criteria. The absence of any one of these criteria does not mean that there is no problem — but it may guide the intervention differently.

• The repetition. Aggressive or humiliating acts are repeated over time, regularly or frequently enough to create a lasting climate of fear for the victim. A single incident, even serious, does not constitute harassment in the strict sense — but it may be a preamble to it.
• Intentionality. The acts are deliberate. The harasser knows that their behaviors harm their target and nonetheless continues to reproduce them. It is not a clumsiness or a misinterpreted game, but a conscious desire to cause suffering, humiliation, or domination.
• The power imbalance. The victim is in a position of inferiority that prevents them from defending themselves effectively. This inferiority can be physical (size difference), numerical (one against several), social (popularity, status within the group), or psychological (known and exploited emotional fragility).

The definition adopted by the French Ministry of National Education is based on these three criteria, in line with international academic definitions, notably those put forward by researcher Dan Olweus, a global pioneer in bullying research.

Harassment vs conflict: a crucial distinction

The confusion between harassment and conflict is one of the most frequent sources of inaction among adults. An ordinary conflict between students involves two parties disputing on a more or less balanced basis. The conflict is occasional, both parties can alternately be in the position of the aggressor, and resolution generally involves mediation.

Harassment, on the other hand, involves a stable and lasting asymmetry. There is always one or more aggressors, a clearly identified victim, and often a group of passive witnesses who, through their silence, contribute to maintaining the system. The victim cannot escape the situation alone. They need external intervention.

2. What the numbers say in France in 2025-2026

The data collected by the National Education, specialized associations, and researchers provide a precise picture of the reality of school bullying in France. These figures are important for educational teams: they help to break the denial, understand the extent of the phenomenon, and measure the urgency of a structured action.

According to the most recent school victimization surveys, approximately 700,000 students are victims of bullying in France each year, across all levels. This figure encompasses physical, verbal, social, and digital forms. It represents an average of one to two students per class — a reality that every teacher, every school counselor, every member of the educational team statistically carries in their professional daily life, often without knowing it.

Cyberbullying is experiencing constant growth. Studies show that it now affects between 15 and 20 % of school-aged adolescents, with a marked intensification since the widespread use of smartphones among middle school students. The particularity of cyberbullying is that it does not stop at the school door: the victim is affected in their private space, at night, on weekends, during school holidays, with no possible respite.

The consequences of untreated school bullying are documented and serious. Academically, there is a gradual dropout, a decline in results, and increasing absenteeism. Psychologically, victims show significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and in the most severe cases, suicidal ideation. Longitudinal studies show that the aftereffects can persist into adulthood, affecting self-esteem, social relationships, and quality of life.

3. The different forms of bullying to know

School bullying is not limited to physical fights in the playground. It takes on multiple forms, sometimes very discreet, that require particular attention from adults. Knowing these forms is essential to avoid overlooking situations that, due to their invisibility, are particularly destructive.

Physical bullying

This is the most identifiable form and yet, paradoxically, it often hides behind normalization. It involves hitting, pushing, pinching, spitting, but also stealing or destroying school belongings. The bullied student may be pushed down the stairs "by accident," their backpack regularly overturned, their belongings "lost." These acts are often presented as games by the aggressors, complicating adult intervention.

Verbal bullying

Repeated mockery about physical appearance, first name, voice, clothing, family, academic results, presumed sexual orientation, religion, or ethnic origin. Verbal bullying may seem "trivial" to the adult who is not the target — but for the victim who endures the same words, the same humiliating nicknames, the same laughter, every day for weeks or months, the impact is deep and lasting. Neuroscience studies show that repeated verbal humiliation activates the same brain areas as physical pain.

Social or relational bullying

This form is the hardest for adults to spot, as it leaves no visible traces. It involves deliberately excluding a student from the group, organizing their social isolation, spreading rumors to tarnish their reputation, and encouraging other students to avoid them. The victim gradually finds themselves alone, not understanding why, often convinced that the problem lies with them. This form of bullying is particularly prevalent among girls.

Discriminatory bullying

Bullying can specifically target identity characteristics: disability, learning disorders, ethnic origin, religion, real or presumed sexual orientation, gender. These discriminatory forms have a particularly serious dimension as they reach the victim's deep identity. Students with DYS disorders, students with disabilities, or LGBTQ+ students are statistically overrepresented among bullying victims.

4. Cyberbullying: a specific and amplified reality

Cyberbullying refers to any form of harassment carried out via digital tools: social networks, instant messaging, online games, forums. It can take the form of insulting messages sent en masse, humiliating posts, sharing compromising photos or videos, identity theft, fake profiles created to harm, deliberate exclusion from online groups.

What makes cyberbullying particularly devastating is the combination of several aggravating factors absent from "in-person" harassment.

• The absence of a temporal refuge. Traditional harassment stops outside of school. Cyberbullying, on the other hand, follows the victim everywhere, at any time. The bedroom, meant to be a safe space, becomes the place where hurtful messages arrive.
• The speed of dissemination. A humiliating content can be shared with hundreds, thousands of people in a matter of minutes. The scale of the audience potentially witnessing the humiliation is unparalleled compared to what exists in a physical environment.
• The permanence of traces. Once online, content is difficult to completely erase. The victim knows that photos, messages, videos can resurface months or years later.
• The possible anonymity of aggressors. Some bullies use anonymous or pseudonymous profiles, which heightens the victim's sense of helplessness and complicates identification by adults.
• Invisibility for adults. Parents and education professionals do not see what happens on private messaging or in closed groups. Cyberbullying is often discovered late, after weeks or months of silent suffering.