In Conversation with: Carole Phillips – ongoing influence of a Fellowship

Taking a stand against bullying

Hailing from South Wales, Carole began working in education in 1995 as an attendance and wellbeing officer, and at her next school – where she stayed for 18 years – she became Social Inclusion Manager.

Her work centred around students’ wellbeing and safeguarding. She became interested in children’s lives, and from the start of her career in education, online safety and bullying featured heavily in this.

She said: “I was developing an interest beyond my immediate experience working in school and I wanted to extend my knowledge.”

Carole undertook a Criminology & Criminal Justice degree, gaining a First Class Honours, with a particular interest in offending behaviour on and offline, and used her learning to inform her work. She found herself drawn increasingly towards wanting to understand bullying, and how cyberbullying differed to real-world bullying.

“I saw a new cohort of Year 7s coming into school each year, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to why the child who bullies gravitates towards the child they bully. I really wanted to dig deep and came to understand that the child who bullies is also a child who is crying out for help.”

During her research, Carole came across the Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme (OBPP) which wasn’t – indeed still isn’t – available in the UK. Based on the work of Norwegian Dr Dan Olweus, the programme was particularly strong in the United States, implemented in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings of 1999.

Carole’s Churchill Fellowship of 2014 saw her travelling across four US states, encouraged and welcomed by OBPP’s programme lead in USA, Dr Marlene Snyder.

In Wales at the time, the anti-bullying policy wasn’t statutory, so schools weren’t coming together collectively.

By contrast, Carole felt the OBPP programme succeeded because of the continuity it offered from primary right through to high school; the language, structure and terminology provided consistency, promoting a culture of calling out bullying. The programme consisted of four core elements, namely all school staff, the children, parents, and the wider community.

When Carole returned from the US she was impatient for change. She spoke in the House of Commons to share her findings. Within her school, Carole developed an anti-bullying programme, which came runner up in Wales’s Police Community Awards. In 2018, Carole was one of four consultants who helped revise the anti-bullying policy, Rights, Respect, Equality guidance for the Welsh government, which became a statutory document that every school has to adhere to.

Personal experience of bullying

Carole’s interest comes from a place of understanding and empathy because she was bullied as a child. Overweight, and living with her father after her parents separated, she found herself singled out.

“I was bullied throughout primary and secondary because of my weight and the fact that I didn’t have a mum at home and whom I did not see for several years. I hated going to school, so it is ironic that I ended up working in education. School is not a safe place for everyone, and I totally understand that.

“But where I am now, I have upskilled not just my knowledge but myself, so I can talk about it not from a detached point of view but from a place where I have experience, because I know how children feel.

“In the late Seventies, teachers just weren’t armed with the tools for dealing with bullying. I want to change that.”

Ongoing influence of a Fellowship 

Carole’s Churchill Fellowship sowed the seeds for her subsequent career.

She moved on from education to work for the anti-bullying charity Kidscape as Head of Services, setting up their presence in Wales. Under Carole’s guidance, Kidscape in Wales became the go-to place for anti-bullying training for schools. She also had the ear of the Welsh government.

Carole now works with Jigsaw Education Group as Curriculum Lead for Wales, Scotland & International schools, using Jigsaw as part of their PSHE curriculum. She supports schools in the implementation of PSE (Personal, Social & Health Education) content for their curriculum, and she is currently writing webinars for schools around safeguarding online. Carole is also vice-chair of WISP – Wales Internet Safety Partnership – supporting members with safeguarding issues and looking after young people’s safety online.

Ten years on, and clearly the Fellowship is continuing to nourish Carole and her passion to support children and young people who experience bullying. As she says, “It was my passion, and it still is my passion.”