Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Bullying seems to be a pervasive problem in most secondary schools and teachers have the daily task of dealing with it.Not only do teachers have to unravel the complex dynamics of bullying, they also often have to navigate a school climate and culture that is not conducive to addressing bullying.In South Africa, there are many unique contextual factors which impact on teachers' management of bullying, such as community violence overflowing into the school, increased administrative load and limited support from school management, parents and education authorities.Therefore, teachers' abilities to conceptualise bullying, recognise and respond to incidents of bullying, and their knowledge of the nature and extent of bullying behaviour impact greatly on anti-bullying strategies.The theoretical framework which informed this study is the social context perspective which drew on views from both social constructionism and the bio-ecological framework.The social context perspective emphasises the interactions between individuals and the systems as delineated in the bio-ecological model.Furthermore, this study did not aim to reveal the "truth" about school bullying.The intention has rather been to provide a comprehensive picture as was portrayed by the participants in this study.This picture included the nature and extent of bullying in their secondary school, the teachers' perspectives and experiences of bullying, and proposed prevention and intervention strategies which they aim to implement at their school.In keeping with the constructionist nature of the process of inquiry, a qualitative, interpretivist research approach was used.Purposive sampling was used to identify potential participants who were then asked to volunteer to be part of the study.Data was generated through semi-structured interviews with individuals and focus groups.Furthermore, the constant comparative method was used to analyse the data.The research findings indicated that the teachers experience and perceive a wide variety of bullying behaviours which take place at various sites, both within and outside the school grounds and that involve a diverse range of individuals within the school community.Furthermore, the teachers conveyed several factors which they experienced as maintaining bullying and highlighted their perceived effects thereof.In addition to this, the participants shared knowledge about their teaching practices and suggested a few strategies on how to deal with bullying more effectively in their school community.
Author: Martha Margaretha Kruger
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Universiteit Stellenbosch
OpenAlex ID: W41072001