Year: 2014
Type: other
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This thesis investigated whether or not homophobic bullying occurred in Irish primary\nschools and the response of school leaders to the issue. Principals, deputy principals and\nthose that were acting in either role (n = 283) completed a questionnaire that investigated:\n• the frequency with which they had dealt with homophobic bullying during the\nacademic year 2012-2013;\n• the nature of the homophobic bullying they encountered;\n• if their school’s anti-bullying policies made reference to homophobic bullying as\na specific form of bullying behaviour;\n• the role they played in addressing homophobic bullying, and how they perceived\nthe role of other stakeholders in helping them address homophobic bullying;\n• their emotional response if dealing with incidents of homophobic bullying;\n• if their school’s Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) programme made\nreference to teaching about sexual orientation;\n• their attitudes to teaching about sexual orientation in the primary school.\nThe evidence analysed suggested that some school leaders had dealt with incidents of\nhomophobic bullying and that these included incidents of physical abuse, exclusion and\nhomophobic cyberbul lying. The data also revealed that pupils had used homophobic\nlanguage towards each other and to express feelings about things they didn’t like. It was\napparent that some incidents where homophobic language was used were not regarded as\nhomophobic bullying by the school leaders.\nThe majority of respondents claimed that their school anti-bullying policies made no\nspecific reference to homophobic bullying. In addition, many implied that they responded\nto incidents of homophobic bullying in an informal manner. It was evident from the data\nthat most recognized the significant emotional damage suffered by victims of\nhomophobic bullying and acknowledged the importance of emotion in their own decision\nmaking when dealing with the issue.\nThe data indicated that while the majority of respondents had adopted an RSE policy in\ntheir schools, these policies did not generally refer to teaching about sexual orientation.\nMany respondents revealed that they were not comfortable discussing sexual orientation\nwith either staff members or with pupils.\nThe implications for this study, addressed in the final chapter of the thesis, are discussed\nin light of the recently updated anti-bullying guidelines (DES, 2013).
Author: Gerard Farrelly
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2891359206