Know your rights

Even with the soft strategy, knowing the legislation strengthens your case. Let the school understand that you know your rights — without having to threaten them with them.

With the soft strategy we build alliances among the parents and work constructively with the school. We use “kind” words and focus on positive changes. That does not change the fact that bullying is unlawful and may be a criminal offence.

Know the family’s and the child’s rights and which formal measures you can use. These are set out in the next chapter.

It is important not to seem threatening or to create a bad atmosphere, but see whether there is room to let the school know that you are well acquainted with the legislation, the available measures and the possible way forward. Our experience is that this can help bring progress in implementing positive measures for the school environment. Many schools prefer to avoid complaint cases with Statsforvalteren (the County Governor), appeals to Utdanningsdirektoratet (the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training), reports to the police and Konfliktrådet (the National Mediation Service). Not to mention the media.

Read about the formal strategy: Open a bullying case

From the original FOMIS parents' guide (2018). The content is reviewed and updated.