It is a recurrent motif in the gang scene that the role of victim and aggressor is constantly reversed and re-established, with a curiously fatalistic acceptance, says Margaret H Auld, social work department, Glasgow, in the current issue of the Glasgow Guidance Bulletin.

“Bullying,” she says, “is the most difficult of all school problems either to catch or to treat. It is not less so today when increasingly the culprits are girls.

“But if no one has found the ideal solution - and to my knowledge no one has - at least we could begin by looking at things as they are rather than as we want them to be. Glasgow is a violent city. Gang activity is rife in some quarters and these children have to survive in it. It is, I suggest, a far more sophisticated problem for a child to resolve than any he will be faced with in the school curriculum.’

“The disruptive pupil is probably the most abrasive element in any school, with the loss of valuable teaching time consumed in dealing with him, the emotional wear and tear on teachers, and the damage to other pupils by the example of flagrant indiscipline.”