Adult bullying
What to do if your child complains that an adult is doing the bullying.
On this page
Considerations
If your child complains they are being bullied by an adult within the school community, in particular a teacher it’s worth considering what might be behind it.
Respectful classroom relationships are usually modelled by teachers, who set the tone for the behaviours within their classrooms. However, if your child is concerned that they may be the subject of bullying behaviours from their teacher, you should always pursue this further as you would with any concern about bullying.
Having an open conversation with your child is a great first step. Ask your child to describe the bullying behaviours and see if they can identify any factors that may have contributed to these circumstances.
Given that relationships between teachers and students are unique, you may like to consider the range of possible alternative reasons for conflict other than bullying.
Some key questions that you might like to consider include:
- Is the ‘bullying behaviour’ misinterpreted disciplinary action (the teacher is responding to your child misbehaving in class in order to maintain a safe and supportive classroom)?
- Is your child struggling with their school work and are inquiries into their progress making them distressed?
- Does your child have these same concerns about other teachers and if so could this pattern be a result of broader circumstances?
- Is the teacher unaware of personal circumstances in your family, or sensitivities that might mean that jokes or comments which might be inoffensive to most people upset your child?
How to resolve the problem
Regardless of if you think bullying behaviours are occurring, if there appears to be an issue with how your child and their teacher are relating an informal approach to the assistant principal, year level co-coordinator or student wellbeing coordinator is a good start. Where appropriate, you may first like to discuss your concern with the teacher.
Your school should be open to working with you to ensure that the relationships between teachers and students are positive and that any issues of bullying are addressed immediately.
If you feel you have a genuine concern and the assistant principal, year level coordinator or student wellbeing coordinator hasn’t been able to resolve it then raise this issue with the principal and if that isn’t successful you can make a complaint to the Department.
It is the Department’s role to ensure that, wherever possible, concerns are resolved at the school level. Information on how schools and the Department manage your concern or complaint can be found at Make a complaint or raise a concern about your school.
Updated 26 March 2026
Related links
About the VIC Government
- The Premier and ministers
- Find a Vic Gov department, agency or service
- Strategies and policies
- Inquiries and royal commissions
Grants and programs
Jobs and careers
Arts, culture and heritage
Business and the workplace
- Mentally Healthy Workplaces Framework
- Portable Long Service Authority
- Victoria’s racing industry
- Workforce Inspectorate Victoria
- Liquor licensing, sale and supply
Communities
- Children
- First Peoples - State Relations
- Finding records
- Gender equality & women’s leadership
- LGBTIQA+ equality
- Multicultural communities
- Seniors Online
- Veterans support and commemoration
- Volunteering in Victoria
- Youth Central
Education and training
- Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority
- Early childhood education – information for professionals
- Kinder: Best Start, Best Life
- Education – information for parents
- Schools.Vic - information for schools
- Education grants, programs, awards and events
- PROTECT
- TAFE, training and universities sector
- TAFE Victoria
- Victorian Skills Authority
- Apprenticeships Victoria
- Learn Local
Environment, water and energy
Finance and economy
Health and social support
- Family violence reform
- NDIS Worker Screening Check
- NDIS and disability services and support in Victoria
- Patient Review Panel
- Transforming Trauma Victoria
Housing and property
Law and justice
- Adoption
- Births, deaths and marriages
- Honorary justices
- Machete ban
- Safeguarding Victorians against terrorism
- Stolen Generations Reparations Package
- Victims of Crime
- Victorian Racing Tribunal
Safety and emergencies
- Emergency Recovery Victoria
- Victorian Emergency Relief and Recovery Foundation
- Emergency Recovery Resource Portal
- How well do you know fire
- Fire Services Reform
- Water safety
- Marine Search and Rescue
Science and technology
- Data sharing and open data
- Data.vic - discover and access Vic Gov open data
- Developer.Vic - portal for API developers
- Go.vic URL shortener
- Vic Gov IT project dashboard
- Victoria’s free public wi-fi network
- Cyber security in the Victorian Government
Sport and recreation
Traffic and transport
- Cameras Save Lives
- Transport Fines
- Getting Around
- Transport Planning
- Transport Future
- Climate Change and transport
- Future Directions For Transport
- Transport projects
- Ports and Freight
Working in the Victorian Government
- Single Digital Presence home
- Accommodation and Library Services
- Executive employment in the Victorian public sector
- Budget, procurement and funding
- Careers in the Victorian Government
- Council and Regulator Toolkit
- Guidelines for working in government
- Join a government network
- Standards and guidelines
- VicFleet CarPool
- Victorian Government style guide