Classroom thugs are becoming increasingly violent and parents say they have little confidence that schools can control the bullies.

In a Fairfax poll this week of parents of schoolkids aged 5 to 14, 54 percent said their children had been bullied at school.

And a quarter said their schools have no effective policy against bullying.

Principals were tied up by red tape and unable to kick bullies out of school, they said.

Bullying hit the headlines after 16-year-old Australian schoolboy Casey Heynes struck back after years of bullying – picking up and body slamming a 12-year-old who was punching him.

Heynes became an internet hero after footage of the incident was put on YouTube.

People applauded his decision to stand up for himself after his school had failed to protect him.

And cellphone video footage has emerged of a 15-year-old Whanganui schoolgirl being beaten so badly by a girl from the same school that she was bleeding from her ears and needed hospital treatment.

In the attack – out of school hours, and off school grounds – the victim was seen being punched to the head, kicked in the back and stomped on the head.

Education Minister Anne Tolley said schools reflect society. Youth violence was on the rise.

"Primary [school] principals are dealing with poor behaviour more and more," Tolley said.

"I know of schools that have suspended 5 and 6-year-olds. They can't control themselves."

Tolley was overseeing a $60m, five-year programme called Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L), to tackle bullying.

The bullies' mothers and fathers would also be targeted because the government and schools believe bad parenting leads to badly behaved students.

The $60m plan included:

Incredible Years Parent Programme – to reach 7050 parents by 2014.

Incredible Years Teacher Programme – targeting 7240 teachers by 2014.

Positive Behaviour for Learning – aimed at 400 schools by 2014.

Intensive "Wrap Around" – spending $30,500 per student per year for 80-100 students annually.

The ministry's severe behaviour services also deals with 4000 children a year, and a specialist "Learning and Behaviour Service" is involved in "transformation work" through 780 specialist teachers.

New Zealand was ranked as one of the worst countries in a major international study three years ago on school bullying. We were 34th in a list of 35 countries. Only Tunisia rated worse.

The Fairfax survey, of 115 parents of 5 to 14-year-old students, wanted to see tougher action on schoolyard bullies.

A suggested `three-strikes' response was:

First bullying offence: Name and shame bullies at morning assembly.

Second offence: Stand the bully down from school.

Third offence: Exclusion – the modern term for kicking them out of school.

Attempts at mediation by schools were seen as "a joke" by parents, who said bullying usually got worse afterwards.

"The bully then intensifies and the child being bullied makes sure that no one will ever know in case they have to face that sort of mediation again. That makes it worse," one parent said.

But New Zealand Principals Federation president Peter Simpson said despite no decline in rates of bullying, schools remained committed to what he calls "restorative justice".

"It's a managed process that involves sitting down with all parties involved. The bully is forced to sit and confront what their actions have done to the victim," Simpson said.

He also says schools have worked hard to make parents and students feel more confident about reporting incidents.

It is up to individual schools to "self-manage" their response to bullying, but all schools have a legal responsibility to provide students with a safe learning environment.

Former education minister Trevor Mallard said he hasn't seen any research that shows the PB4L programme is working and questions if the focus on parenting is right – while some students who are violent at school have violent homes, some come from good, non-violent families, he says.

The last six months have seen headline-making bullying cases in New Zealand.

In one of the most shocking, a 13-year-old Morrinsville College student suffered serious head injuries after she was assaulted by four fellow students in the school grounds.

Her attackers were all stood down – but not suspended – for different lengths of time, but none for more than five days.