Social Studies School Based

Assessment

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Can
didate Name: Gabriel Purcell, Tessan Angus, Schinell Robinson
Candidate Number:
School: Irwin High School
Centre Number:
Teacher: Mrs. L. Reid
Year of examination: 2021
Topic: Bullying
Territory: Jamaica
 Title Page

Topic: Bullying

Sub Topic: What are the main effects of bullying on grade 11

students in a high school in St. James?
Acknowledgment

I first want to thank God for putting me in the right mindset for
completing this assessment. I secondly want to thank my social
Studies teacher Mrs. Reid, for walking my group members and I
through the steps in the successful completion of our social Studies
School Based Assessment. A big thank you to all the persons who
helped us to complete this assessment. 
 Table of Contents

Topics Pages
Statement of Problem………………………………………..1

Reason for selecting area of research………………………..2

Method of Investigation……………………………………3-5

Procedure used to collect data…………………………………6

Presentation of data………………………………………..7-9

Analysis and interpretation of data……………………….10-11

Findings…………………………………………………..…..12

Recommendation and Implementation…………….................13

Bibliography…………………………………………….14-16
 1

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What are the main effects of bullying on grade 11 students in a high school in St. James?

Research questions
What are the causes of bullying?

What are the effects of bullying?

What are the possible solutions of bullying?

 2

REASON OF SELECTING THE AREA OF

RESEARCH

The reason for selecting this topic was that many kids in my school are victims of a bully. They have

been bully in silence. These kids suffer every day having to deal with this problem. These children are

afraid to attend school. Some of these kids have low self-esteem and self-control problems. Their

scholastic performances now become low. The school's reputation has then disgraced by bullying.

Nobody wants to send their children to a school that has a large number of bullying cases. The school

can help in stopping bullying. I believe parents should help bullies be a better person. It is a problem

for many years and, we would like to complete this research on bullying to see the causes and effects it

has on its victims and the school population and a possible solution. I believe my group members and I

can help to prevent bullying by completing this assessment. We can find explication and strengthen the

importance of bullying and safe zones against bullies.

 3

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

In collecting the information for this study, the researchers have decided to use questionnaires. Due to
the ongoing pandemic this method will involve distribution of questionnaires via the internet.

Three advantages of questionnaire method are:

 The format is familiar to most respondents

 It requires little time to be completed

 Respondents can remain anonymous.

 4
QUESTIONIONAIRE

Please am asking to take the time out of your busy schedule to answer the following questions. This is
to help my group members and I to complete our social studies School-based Assessment .NO
PERSONAL INFORMATION NEEDED. Please place a tick in the boxes to select your responses
([✓]) and type where necessary.

Age: 13-14[] 15-16[]

Gender: Female[] Male []

1) What do you think is the main cause of bullying?

a. Unstable household_[]
b. Violence in home[]
c. To seek attention []

2) What are some of the impact that bullying will cause on a victim?

i. Lack of self esteem and Lack of self-control

ii. Mental and physical scars

a) I only []

b) Ii only []

c) Ii and iii only[]

3) Why are victims of bullying often quiet about the situation?

a. They are afraid to speak up []

b. They don’t see it as important to speak up[]
c. None of the above[]

4) What could be a reason why bullies bully other people? Is it because

a. Of Victims vulnerability []
b. The type of homes they come from[]
c. All of the above[]

5) What effects does bullying have on a bully?

a) It helps the feel better[]

b) It makes them feel more in control or powerful[]

c) It helps them to escape what they go through at home[]

6) Who do you think should be blamed for a bully’s behavior?

a. Parent[]
 b. Victim []
c. Bully[]

5
7) How would you rate the level of bullying at your school?

High [] Low. [] Medium []

8) Does the school take bullying seriously?

9) [] Yes []No

10) To what extent have the school population impacted by the increase in bully cases?

11) What is affected mostly in the school population due to bullying?

a. Victims academic performance []

b. Victims attendance [].
c. Victims self-esteem []

12) If the school has a high rate of bullying cases what is most likely to be affected in the school as a whole?

a. The school’s reputation[]

b. The school’s performance []

c. The school’s health and safety[]

13) Do you think there should be consequences of bullying?

Yes []

No[]

14) What are some consequences that the school should take against bullying?

a. Detention for 2 month after school(2 and a half hours each evening) []
b. 200 hours of community service[]
c. Counselling at the soldier camp []

15) What can parents of victims do?

a. Report the matter[]

b. Take matters in their hands[]
c. Ignore the matter[]

16) What can parents of bullies do?

a. Seek professional help[]

b. Try to handle them by themselves[]
c. Ignore the situation[]
 6
Procedure Used To Collect Data

A total of 25 questionnaires were distributed to five mixed grade 11 option classes at the Irwin High

School. This grade was selected because the researcher believes that this particular grade would have

had more experience about was being asked of them. Each occupant was selected randomly, in spite of

the ongoing pandemic the questionnaires were sent in the option classes group on January 4, 2021. A

text message was sent out in each of the option group and the first 5 students each from the option to

reply were awarded with questionnaires. The students were given an email address to return the

questionnaires when finished with it. A number of fifteen (15) questionnaires were returned. The

remaining 10 respondents were said to be busy with their S.B.A’s and so we had to contact those

persons and asked them if they would be able to submit it to us by the end of the week they agreed. The

remaining questionnaires were sent at the end of the week as said.

 7
Presentation of Data

Question 1:

What do you think is the main cause of bullying?

Table showing the causes of bullying and the number of responses.

Fig1 : A table showing the respondents choice of selection in raw data to the above question.

Question 2

What are some of the impact that bullying will cause on a victim?

i. Lack of self esteem and Lack of self-control

ii. Mental and physical scars

a) Ii only ☐

b) I only ☒

c) **Ii and iii only☒

Fig1: pie chart showing the rate of the respondents’ choices as it relates to the above question.

Question 3:

What effects does bullying have on a bully?

a) It makes them feel more in control or powerful☐

b) It helps them to escape what they go through at home☐

c) All of the above☐

 8

Fig2: bar chart showing the number of respondents in raw data and the option they chose as it relates to the above question.

Question 4:

What is affected mostly in the school population due to bullying?

a. Victims academic performance ☐

b. Victims attendance ☐

c. All of the above ☐

Table showing the number of respondents in raw data and their responses for question 4.

Option Response Respondents

A Victims academic performance 6

B Victims attendance 14

C Both victims attendance and academic performance 10

Fig 2: A table representing the raw data score of the respondents and their choices for the above question.
 9
Question 5:

If the school has a high rate of bullying cases what is most likely to be affected in the school as a whole?

a. The school’s reputation☐

b. The school’s performance ☐

c. The school’s health and safety☐

Fig 3: A pie chart showing the respondents rate of responses when asked what is most likely to be affected in the school as a
whole if bullying cases should rise.

Question 6:

What are some consequences that the school should take against bullying?

a) Detention for 2 month after school(2 and a half hours each evening)☐

b) 200 hours of community service☐

c) Counselling at the soldier camp ☐

Fig 4 bar chart representing the raw data score of respondents and the option they chose from the above question.
 10
Analysis and interpretation of data

Based on the information collected from the five option classes, 15 were male and the other 15 were females. The age group

with the highest response rate was age 15-16 which was 20 students and the remaining 10 aged ranging from 13-14, from

the information collected it can be seen that majority of the students aged 15+. Thirty students were asked what cause

bullying. Forty percent of the students said unstable households, thirty-three percent said violence in the home and twenty-

seven percent said to seek attention; this could mean that majority of the students who bully other students are from unstable

households and indeed needs help.

In terms of the unstable household which bullies come from it was a major concern about the effects bullying has on the

bully. Seven said it helps them to escape what they go through at home, nine said helps them to feel more in control or

powerful. Surprisingly, the majority of the respondents said both, it helps them to escape what they go through at home

And helps them to feel more in control or powerful(14 out of 30). It must be noted that students from the unstable household

are hurting too and don’t know how to handle it as a result they bully other people to feel in control and as an escape from

reality.

Not only bullies are hurting but victims too; this led to the impact that bullying has on its victims, interestingly thirty

percent of the respondents said lack of self-esteem and self-control, thirty-three percent said mental and physical scars. It

must be noted that the remaining thirty-seven said both. This can also mean that victims of bullying is affected both

mentally and physically, which puts a burden on the victims in the school population.

This raised concerns about what was affected most in the school population as a whole. The victims’ attendance as a whole

in the school population is affected mostly as determined by the respondents. Forty-seven percent said victims attendance,

twenty percent said victims academic performance and thirty-three percent said both academic performance and attendance

is affected. This can conclude that victims of bullying don’t want to attend school, it could be that they are afraid of being

bullied so they avoid attending school and so their academic performance will now decrease.

However, because the victims’ attendance is affected due to bullying; put forward queries about what is affected mostly in

the school as a whole if the number of bullying cases continues to rise. Most of the respondents chose the school’s
reputation, which was sixty-four percent of the respondents. Thirty percent said the school performance and the reaming

three percent

11
said the schools health and safety. This can be interpreted as a dominant matter mainly because, no parent or guardian will

send their child to a school where he/she is constantly being bullied.

This regardless is in need of a solution, the researchers suggest to the respondents some possible solutions. Interestingly

twelve out of 30 respondents chose counseling at a soldier camp, ten chose detention after school for two months ( two and

a half hours each evening) and eight chose two hundred hours of community service. This could mean that because soldiers

receive harsh training and are rough bullies might change to avoid being sent to the soldier camp for counseling.
 12
Findings

The researchers found out that:

• Forty percent of the school population said that most of the bullies are from an unstable household

• Sixty percent of the school population says that the schools reputation would be at risk if bullying cases continue to

rise at the school

• Seventy percent of the school population agrees that the effects of bullying on a victim could lead to mental and

physical scars, low self-esteem and lack of self-control

 13
Recommendation and Implementation

The researchers recommends that schools should have a no bullying safe zone. As this will help reduce bullying cases and

save the schools’ reputation from being tarnished.

Parents should pay more attention to their hurting children. They should have time set aside for them, to make them feel

loved and appreciated. Whenever there is a problem at home the researchers strongly recommends that parents should sit

with their children and speak about it. Parents talking to their children about problems they have at home can possibly

reduce their thoughts becoming a bully. This can help them to feel loved and so they wouldn’t feel the need to pick on a

vulnerable peer.

In the process of making these recommendations the researchers decided on a way that these problems could be

implemented by:

• Creating a anti-bullying policy in the school environment where students will be in a safe bully free environment. This

will also help to build the schools’ reputation.

 14
Bibliography

Copy of one of the questionnaire that was used to collect data for this assessment

QUESTIONIONAIRE

Please am asking to take the time out of your busy schedule to answer the following questions. This is
to help my group members and I to complete our social studies School-based Assessment .NO
PERSONAL INFORMATION NEEDED. Please place a tick in the boxes to select your
responses([✓]) and type where necessary.

Age: 13-14[] 15-16[✓]

Gender: Female[✓] Male []

17) What do you think is the main cause of bullying?

a. Unstable household[✓]
b. Violence in home[]
c. To seek attention []

18) What are some of the impact that bullying will cause on a victim?

j. Lack of self esteem and Lack of self-control

ii. Mental and physical scars

a) I only []

b) Ii only []

c) Ii and iii only[✓]

19) Why are victims of bullying often quiet about the situation?

a. They are afraid to speak up [✓]

b. They don’t see it as important to speak up[]
c. None of the above[]

20) What could be a reason why bullies bully other people? Is it because

a. Of Victims vulnerability[✓]
b. The type of homes they come from[]
c. All of the above[]

21) What effects does bullying have on a bully?

a) It helps the feel better[]

b) It makes them feel more in control or powerful[]

 15

c) It helps them to escape what they go through at home[✓]

22) Who do you think should be blamed for a bully’s behavior?

a. Parent[✓]
b. Victim []
c. Bully[]

23) How would you rate the level of bullying at your school?

High [] Low. [] Medium [✓]

24) Does the school take bullying seriously?
25) [✓] Yes []No

26) To what extent have the school population impacted by the increase in bully cases?
Parents hardly want to send their children to school.

27) What is affected mostly in the school population due to bullying?

a. Victims academic performance []

b. Victims attendance []
c. Victims self-esteem [✓]

28) If the school has a high rate of bullying cases what is most likely to be affected in the school as a whole?

a. The school’s reputation[✓]

b. The school’s performance []

c. The school’s health and safety[]

29) Do you think there should be consequences of bullying?

Yes [✓]

No[]

30) What are some consequences that the school should take against bullying?

a. Detention for 2 month after school(2 and a half hours each evening) []
b. 200 hours of community service[]
c. Counselling at the soldier camp [✓]

31) What can parents of victims do?

a. Report the matter[✓]

b. Take matters in their hands[]
c. Ignore the matter[]
32) What can parents of bullies do?

16
a. Seek professional help[✓]
b. Try to handle them by themselves[]
c. Ignore the situation[]

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