Education Minister Anne Tolley has rebuked the Children's Commissioner for releasing a report on bullying ahead of an education summit.
The report rated New Zealand's schools as being among the worst in the world for bullying and found rates of bullying to be more than 50% above the international average.
The study, undertaken for the commissioner, refers to international research last year and accuses New Zealanders of having a high tolerance for violence.
Anne Tolley told the summit on student behaviour in Wellington on Monday that she was disappointed Dr Kiro released the student safety report over the weekend.
Mrs Tolley says Dr Kiro should have presented the report to the summit rather than trying to define the issue personally. She told the meeting it was an attempt to shape the summit, which is about much more than bullying.
The minister said the focus should be on developing an action plan to address a whole range of behaviour that, at its worst, threatens student and teacher safety.
Schools 'should be identified'
Dr Kiro is calling for the names of schools that have poor or inadequate policies to deal with bullying to be made public.
The commissioner also wants schools that are successfully reducing bullying to share their knowledge with others that are struggling.
She told Morning Report the study found a minority of schools that seemed to have no real policies or protocols in place and those schools should be identified, perhaps by the Education Review Office.
Dr Kiro says bullying is intensifying as more children use the Internet and mobile phones to hound their victims. She says it is difficult for victims to stop the spread of bullying comments or footage posted on the Internet or sent via mobile phones.
In addition, an increased use of knives and violent attacks reflects problems in the wider community, she says.
Dr Kiro believes a "she'll be right" attitude towards bullying is to blame for New Zealand's poor world standing in tackling the issue.
Most schools try to prevent bullying - ministry
Ministry of Education spokesperson Nicholas Pole says most schools do acknowledge bullying behaviour is a risk, and work to manage it. However, he says there are some schools where more attention to the problem is required.
The Human Rights Commission says serious bullying, abuse and violence in schools should be dealt with as seriously as incidents involving adults.
Chief commissioner Roslyn Noonan says a review of school regulations found there was insufficient focus on the impact of violence, bullying and abuse on a victim's right to education.
She says schools are also left with no clear direction on when or how to involve the police or other agencies. The commission has prepared a paper for the summit.
