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Effects of Bullying in Schools: The Teachers’ Perspectives

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ISSN 2200-6591

Journal of Society and

Communication

VOL 2012
 Journal of Society and Communication 161

Volume 2012, 161-179

http://journalofsocietyandcommunication.com

Effects of Bullying in Schools: The Teachers’ Perspectives

Clifford Gomba

University of the Incarnate Word

Kuan Chen Tsai

University of the Incarnate Word

 162

Effects of Bullying in Schools: The Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract:

Bullying occurs largely at a school. A relationship exists b

etween student bullying and school issues such as academic achiev

ement, school bonding, and absenteeism. School bullying is also a

ssociated with numerous physical, mental and social problems. Pre

vention of school bullying should become a priority issue for sch

ools, and many strategies can be employed to solve bullying behav

ior. The purpose of this study is to investigate the bullying in

the classroom from teachers’ views. Results showed that bullying

is still a serious issue. Teachers believed guidance and counseli

ng would help reduce bullying behaviors in schools.

Keywords: Bullying, academic achievement, counseling Introdu

ction

Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order

to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally (Ber

an, 2009; Olweus, 1995). Olweus (1999) defined bullying as when a

person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over

time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other person

s, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself. Bul

lying behavior may include direct forms such as slapping, pushing,

name calling or swearing or as indirect forms such as gossiping

with peers about the targeted individual (Beran & Lupart, 2009).

School bullying, sometimes referred to as peer victimization or p

eer harassment consists of a subset of aggressive behaviors among

school children and adolescents

 163

(Carlyle & Steinman, 2007; Ma, Phelps, Lerner & Lerner, 2009). Ad

vancement in technology has also led to the development of anothe

r type of bullying called cyber bullying which happens via electr

onic gadgets such as cell phones and the internet

(Anderson, 2010; Patchin & Hinduja, 2010; Twyman, Saylor, Taylor,

& Comeaux, 2010). School bullying is now recognized as a concern i
n schools worldwide and hence has to be addressed before the situa
tion gets out of hand (Beran, Hughes, & Lupart, 2008; Glasner, 201
0).

There has been growing interest in the area of bullying focu

sing on its effects on academic achievement (Boulton, 2008;

Mavroveli & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2011; Özer, Totan, & Atik, 2011;

Townsend, Flisher, Chikobvu, Lombard, & King, 2008). The
majority of foci is on the center of students (Brown, Birch, & Ka

ncherla, 2005; Smith, 2004), but the area has not investigated ed

ucators’ views (e.g., Flynt & Morton, 2008). Most research does n

ot focus how on teachers view bullying or how they react to issue

s of bullying. Teachers are always in contact with their students,

so they should be in a position to answer questions about bullyi

ng. The main focus of this study is to explore teachers' percepti

ons of bullying. It is hope to provide some insights for training

teachers about bullying and for school district’s bullying policy.

Bullying in Schools

Bullying is a common occurrence in most schools and varies g

reatly between schools and school districts (Bauman, 2008; Blosni

ch & Bossarte, 2011). Regardless of the grade level, socioeconomi

 164

c environment, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, bullying

can happen to anyone especially at school

(Olweus, 1995). According to the American Psychological Associa

tion (2011), 70 percent of middle and high school students have

experienced bullying at some point, 20-40 percent report having

bullied or been part of bullying during the school year, 5-15 p

ercent of youth are chronic victims, and 7-12 percent are chron

ic bullies. Further, 8-15 year olds rank bullying as more of a

problem in their lives than violence, while 5th-12th graders ar

e more concerned about emotional maltreatment and social cruelt

y from peers than anything else (American Psychological Associa

tion, 2011). These statistics show how prevalent bullying is in

most schools.

Bullying at school tends to occur in secluded places such as

locker rooms and playgrounds especially when there are no teacher

s to monitor students. Teachers, as adults who are responsible in

ensuring the school environment is conducive to learning, should

be involved in reducing bullying behavior at their schools. The b

est way to reduce bullying is to recognize that bullying can occu

r at all levels within the hierarchy of the school that is from k

indergarten through high school. Most schools have adopted anti-b

ullying policies and made it clear that bullying is never accepta

ble (Thijs, & Verkuyten, 2008). Teachers should ensure there are

adult supervisors in the yard, halls, and washrooms and encourage

positive peer relations and cooperative learning activities. In a

ddition, teachers may emphasize the aspect of caring, respect, sa

fety and consequences of hurting others (Thijs, & Verkuyten, 200

8).
 165

Observers of bullying may also be affected by bullying behav

ior as they may feel unsafe in the school environment or where bu

llying takes place. Bystanders to bullying may tend to dissociate

themselves with the victim for fear of being the next target and

they feel powerless to act, guilty of not acting and are tempted

to participate (Beran & Lupart, 2008; Olweus Bullying Prevention

Program, 2011). Therefore, in order to stop bullying in the schoo

l, it is beneficial to offer a variety of extracurricular activit

ies which appeal to a range of interests to engage students and k

eep them occupied. Holding a school conference day or forum devot

ed to bully/victim problems and enforcing consistent and immediat

e consequences for aggressive behaviors can also be done by teach

ers to reduce bullying behaviors at school (Olweus, 1999).

The Detrimental Effects of Bullying

Victims who have been the targets of bullying can suffer fro

m long term emotional and behavioral problems which can lead to P

ost Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Carney, 2008), the inabilit

y to form relationships, even leading to celibacy (Bauman, 2008).

Bullying can also affect bullies, victims and those who witness b

ullying. Victims of bullying have a higher risk of depression and

anxiety which may continue into adulthood

(Dake, Price, & Telljohann, 2003; O'Brennan, Bradshaw, & Sawyer,

2009). People who are bullied have increased suicidal thoughts th

at may persist into adulthood. Studies have shown that between 15

and 25 children every year in the United Kingdom commit suicide b

ecause they are being bullied (Wallace, 2003). In the U.S. suicid

e cases because of bullying have received public attention and aw

 166

areness (Dervin, 2011; Green, 2007). According to the website of

Stop Bulling (n. d.), adults who recalled being bullied in youth

were 3 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or inclination

s. Moreover, victims have been found likely to retaliate through

extremely violent measures. In 12 of 15 schools shooting cases in

the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied (U.S. Depa

rtment of Health & Human Services, n. d.).

Bullies tend to have a higher risk of abusing drugs as adult

s and are likely to have criminal convictions. The research showe

d a significant association between bullying and lifetime disorde

r behaviors (Vaughn, et al, 2010). Research has shown that 60% of

boys who bullied others in middle school had a criminal convictio

n by the age of 24 (Stop Bulling, n. d.). Those who bully their p

eers are also likely than those students who do not bully others

to carry a weapon, report poor grades, and get into frequent figh

ts. Be that as it may, not all students who bully others have obv

ious behavior problems or are engaged in rule-breaking activities.

A Study conducted by Woods and Wolke (2004) showed that bullies

are children with high academic abilities and have social skills

available to carry out relational manipulations. They tend to be

highly skilled socially and good at ‘ingratiating’ themselves wit

h teachers and it is often difficult for teachers to discover or

even imagine that these students engage in bullying behavior (Olw

eus Bullying Prevention Program, 2011).

Research has shown that bullying is now a serious problem in

the education sector and if it continues unchecked, the whole sch

ool environment can be affected in many ways (Bauman, 2008; Glasn

er, 2010). The school develops an environment of fear and disresp

 167

ect with students having difficulty in learning, feeling insecure,

disliking school and perceiving teachers and staff as having lit

tle control and not caring about them (Carran &

Kellner, 2009; Gastic; 2008; Olweus Bullying Prevention Program,

2011). Bullying at school results in lower academic achievement

as victims tend to be absent more often, spend less time and ene

rgy on their school work and do not concentrate at school (Koche

nderfes & Ladd, 1996, as cited by Beran, 2009). Victims of bully

ing may feel hurt, embarrassed, insecure, low self-esteem and se

lf-blame (Patchin & Hinduja, 2010), have greater rates of absent

eeism, have problems with school adjustment (doing school work,

following rules) and have problems with school bonding (desire t

o do well at school, take school work seriously) resulting in lo

wer achievement (Beran et al., 2008; Beran & Lupart, 2009; Dake,

et al., 2003). Likewise, bullies who tend to have a lower schoo

l adjustment, lower school bonding and tend to engage in crimina

l (vandalism, stealing) and academic (cheating, skipping school)

misconduct and all these were found to contribute to lower acade

mic achievement (Woods & Wolke, 2004). Method

Participants and Setting

A total of twenty teachers were used as participants for thi

s study. Participants were selected from two classes of Education

al Research Seminar (EDT 667) and Planning and

Assessing Technology-enhanced Learning (EDT 631). Of the 20 teach

ers, 11 were females and 9 were males. All 20 teachers were eligi

ble for the study as most of them were either practicing teachers

or had taught in the immediate past. A total of 11 participants a

re teaching at primary level, 3 teachers teach at Middle School a

 168

nd 4 teachers are teaching at High School. The remaining 2 teache

rs were not currently teaching, but had taught at primary level w

here they dealt with cases of bullying. Data Collection

The researcher obtained permission to collect data by provid

ing the participants a letter and the participants’ school princi

pal a letter explaining the study’s objectives. This study sought

to establish how bullying is reported in schools and any other ne

gative effects of bullying behavior at school especially in the a

cademic and social lives of students. The researcher collected te

acher checklists on bullying and also carried out a survey in ord

er to address and answer the research questions.

The teacher groups were given the survey through email to co

mplete. The survey consisted of open-ended questions and also clo

sed-response questions. The survey consisted of 15 questions on b

ullying, some of which could be answered as either Yes/No or by f

ill in. At the completion of the survey, participants were asked

to email back the completed survey for the further analysis of th

e data.

Major Findings
All the teachers who responded to the survey said that they

had dealt with a case of bullying this year. Of the 55 cases of b

ullying behavior, the majority of them were verbal which accounte

d for 73%, while physical accounted for 18%, while the remainder

9% of the cases was not specified. On average, name calling accou

nted for a higher percentage (47.5%) as compared to other forms o

f bullying. Of the 73% of verbal bullying, 27.5% were for spreadi

ng rumors, 15% for teasing, and 10% for insults.

 169

With regard to gender difference, the major cause of bullyin

g incidents among girls included possessiveness of friends, seclu

sion from group, dating the same boyfriend and others just didn’t

like each other. Among boys some of the cause of bullying behavio

r included bigger boys bullying smaller ones, language disability,

homosexuality, seclusion from group and others just didn’t like

each other.

Concerning the bullying place in a school, teachers believed

that bullying in schools occurred in many areas where adult super

vision or presence was at a minimum or non-existent. Some of the

places identified where bullying takes place included hallways, p

layground, cafeteria, on bus and in the classroom.

The majority of the participants, 80% believed that victims

of bullying did not fail to do homework, or experienced a lower a

cademic achievement as a result of bullying, while the remaining

20% believed that they did. All teachers said that none of the vi

ctims of bullying skipped school because of the act. However, the

y still believed bullying might affect academic and social develo

pment.

Discussion and Conclusion

Previous research focused on particular grades, especially th

ose of middle and high schools (Beran, 2009). In this regard, incl

uding teachers of nearly all grades made it necessary to find out

the extent of bullying in all grade levels. Based on the teachers’

report, bullying has been found to be prevalent in schools. On ave

rage, each teacher dealt with 2 cases of bullying. The results als

o show that bullying occurs at nearly every grade level and that v
 170

erbal bullying was the most common form of bullying behavior. Bull

ying is a problem in schools for it disrupts a good learning envir

onment for students and may lead to lower academic achievement. Fo

r the small percentage of teachers who felt that bullying is not a

problem; it might be due to the fact that they have not dealt with

serious cases of bullying or they believe it is not a problem at a

ll.

Bullying has also been found to be dominant in places that a

re mostly secluded or without any adult supervision. Most of the

bullying cases took place at the playground. This may be that the

playground is a conducive place for bullying because of minimum a

dult supervision. The study also found that there is a relationsh

ip between bullying and lower academic achievement.

Based on the results, most teachers believed that bullying not on

ly contribute to lower academic achievement, but also affect stud

ents socially. Finally, most teachers proposed that it is imperat

ive to educate people about bullying especially students and pare

nts with appropriate approaches to address it.

Research on the effects of bullying on academic achievement

has shown that bullying contributes to lower academic achievement

(Bauman, 2008; Beran, 2009). Following this line, this study conf

irmed that teachers believed that bullying does contribute to low

er academic achievement. In this study, bullying was found to tak

e many forms like verbal and physical, leading to discomfort for

victims at school (c.f. Carran & Kellner, 2009), thus leading to

lower academic achievement, and also affecting the social lives o

f the victims even after the school.

 171

Teachers suggested that the first action is to educate stude

nts and parents on the effects of bullying and how best to handle

it. There is also need to discuss bullying in class, encourage op

en communication and victims to be told to stand up for themselve

s, and speak out for help. According to the teachers, bullying ca

n also be addressed by putting emphasis on being kind and good to

one another, and teachers should model appropriate behaviors.

In closing, it is imperative to address bullying at school t

hrough setting up a school bullying policy with clear rules and c

ode of conduct (Edmondson & Zeman, 2011). Anti- bullying rules

(Raskauskas & Modell, 2011) and standing up against bullying are

two ways of stamping out bullying in the classroom and helping st

udents learn without problems (Jaffe & D'Agostino, 2011). Most im

portant, all stakeholders should take active roles to stop this m

alicious behavior and harassment, which in turn provide an appeal

ing learning environment for students and safer education for all

(Carter, 2011).
 172

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