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Risk Factors for Educator-Targeted Bullying: A Social-Ecological Perspective
Abstract
This study investigated educator-targeted bullying (ETB) in a South African school setting from a social-ecological perspective. Seven survivors of ETB were interviewed using open ended questions. The data were content analysed for themes. The main findings of the study were: (1) bullies are undisciplined individuals who lack parental support; (2) school and classroom management styles may encourage ETB; and (3) a lack of positive values in the community and a disregard for authority figures perpetuate ETB. Survivors of ETB perceived to lack support from colleagues, school management, and parents of the offending learners.
... Most research on ETB has examined teachers bullied by students (de Wet, 2010(de Wet, , 2012de Wet & Jacob, 2006), although teachers may also be the victims of bullying perpetrated by other teachers, school staff, or students' parents (Kõiv, 2015;McMahon et al., 2014;Tiesman et al., 2013). ETB, as traditionally defined, has the following characteristics: an educator is intentionally intimidated or disrespected; an educator's authority is intentionally questioned or challenged; an educator's reputation is intentionally damaged (de Wet, 2012;de Wet & Jacob, 2006). ...
... Most research on ETB has examined teachers bullied by students (de Wet, 2010(de Wet, , 2012de Wet & Jacob, 2006), although teachers may also be the victims of bullying perpetrated by other teachers, school staff, or students' parents (Kõiv, 2015;McMahon et al., 2014;Tiesman et al., 2013). ETB, as traditionally defined, has the following characteristics: an educator is intentionally intimidated or disrespected; an educator's authority is intentionally questioned or challenged; an educator's reputation is intentionally damaged (de Wet, 2012;de Wet & Jacob, 2006). ...
... Most research on ETB has examined teachers bullied by students (de Wet, 2010(de Wet, , 2012de Wet & Jacob, 2006), although teachers may also be the victims of bullying perpetrated by other teachers, school staff, or students' parents (Kõiv, 2015;McMahon et al., 2014;Tiesman et al., 2013). ETB, as traditionally defined, has the following characteristics: an educator is intentionally intimidated or disrespected; an educator's authority is intentionally questioned or challenged; an educator's reputation is intentionally damaged (de Wet, 2012;de Wet & Jacob, 2006). ETB may be conducted by one or more students, on one or more occasions. ...
The current study took a cross‐cultural perspective in understanding the phenomenon in which teachers are bullied by students, comparing Chinese and U.S. teachers. The survey examined Chinese (n = 154) and U.S. (n = 61) teachers' experiences of being bullied by students or witnessing other teachers bullied by students in the past year. Approximately one‐third of teachers in both China and the United States reported being the target of student bullying, with relational and verbal bullying the most commonly reported types. More U.S. teachers experienced physical bullying than Chinese teachers, whereas more Chinese teachers experienced sexual bullying than U.S. teachers. U.S. teachers were more likely than Chinese teachers to report that their school had a bullying policy and that they had reported bullying behavior to school administrators.
... Furthermore, the abuse of drugs and alcohol among school learners as well as gangsterism and a tough neighbourhood purport the problem (Kondrasuk, Greene, Waggoner, Edwards, & Nayak-Rhodes, 2005). Teachers seem to be of the opinion that, on the one hand, parents are afraid or unwilling to discipline their children and, on the other, quick to take action against teachers who discipline them (De Wet, 2012a). Within the school system, various studies suggest that both boys and girls equally bully teachers (De Wet, 2012a;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998) and learner-on-teacher bullying peaks during the 9th and 10th years in school (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Chen & Astor, 2009). ...
... Teachers seem to be of the opinion that, on the one hand, parents are afraid or unwilling to discipline their children and, on the other, quick to take action against teachers who discipline them (De Wet, 2012a). Within the school system, various studies suggest that both boys and girls equally bully teachers (De Wet, 2012a;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998) and learner-on-teacher bullying peaks during the 9th and 10th years in school (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Chen & Astor, 2009). This is in line with trends regarding learner-on-learner bullying in schools: bullying tends to peak in Grade 9, and both boys and girls are equally likely to be perpetrators of bullying, even though boys are more likely to be guilty of physical and girls of relational aggression (Espelage, Meban, & Swearer, 2004). ...
... Teachers feel that they are not taken seriously and are expected to handle the situation (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998). Some are told that they simply overreact (De Wet, 2012a). In a study in a poor area of London, Pervin and Turner (1998, p. 5) found that the "situation was not resolved despite seeking help from school management". ...
Workplace bullying within the school context includes a multitude of role players because teachers may be targeted by their colleagues, principals, the members of the management and administrative staff of their school, parents and learners. They may, however, also be guilty of bullying learners placed under their care. This chapter reviews research on workplace bullying in schools, highlighting the preferred research methods, research focus and the under-theorizing of the research. The chapter exposes the influence of different relations, for example, teacher–principal and teacher–learner, on what may be perceived to be workplace bullying in schools. The antecedents of workplace bullying in schools, as well as the negative effects of bullying on the victims and schools as an organization, are underscored. Suggestions on how to address the negative workplace behaviours in schools are offered. Recommendations for future research are made.
... lack of support, lack of knowledge to discipline and identify bullies), and social (e.g. lack of positive values towards teachers in the community, disregard for teacher authority, poor school policies on bullying) variables (De Wet, 2012). Only some quantitatively designed studies have assessed the bullying status of teachers among bullied and non-bullied teachers as victims of student bullying with respect to identify personal variables related to their victimization, but to the authors' knowledge no studies have examined the potential differences in victim-categories among teachers. ...
... De Wet, 2012;De Wet & Jacobs, 2006;Özkiliç, 2012;Pervin & Turner, 1998) studies that TTB victimparticipants believed that the inexperience of new teachers may be risk factors for TTB. However, teachers as multi-targets of students and adult bullying felt more frequently than teachers as victims of student bullying that a certain extent the publicity, educational and school authorities were sceptical of the quality of understanding and support they received to strive against teacher-targeted bullying by students. ...
... Similarly, other studies (Benefield, 2004;De Wet, 2012;De Wet & Jacobs, 2006;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998) have emphasized that being bullied can affect the morale of teachers and values in the society as risk for the TTB, this study was in the line of differentiating victimization risk groupmulti-target victimized teaches were more vulnerable to broad society risk factors concerning with negative attitudes toward TTB. Society and educational authorities should be fully aware of the problems faced by teachers within the school context seek out necessary educational resources to strengthen attitudes and values against teacher-targeted bullying. ...
... Since the publication of research by Pervin and Turner (1998) and Terry (1998) on the bullying of teachers by their learners in the United Kingdom (UK), there has been a growing research interest in the topic (e.g. De Wet, 2012;Emmerová & Kohútová, 2017;Garrett, 2014;Kauppi & Pӧrhӧlä, 2012a). Pӧrhӧlä (2012a:1060) note that, despite this interest, "research on the victimisation of teachers is still scarce, and understanding of the phenomenon is rather limited." ...
... The bullying of teachers by their learners has been researched in many countries, such as Luxembourg (Steffgen & Ewen, 2007), Finland (Kauppi & Pӧrhӧlä, 2012a;Pyhältӧ, Pietarinen & Soini, 2015), South Africa (De Wet, 2012Wet, , 2019, Turkey (Özkılıç, 2012), the Czech Republic (Kopencký & Szotkowski, 2017), Slovakia (Emmerová & Kohútová, 2017), Estonia (Kõiv, 2015), Ireland (Garrett, 2014;James, Lawlor, Courtney, Flynn, Henry & Murphy, 2008), the USA (Espelage, Anderman, Brown, Jones, Lane, McMahon, Reddy & Reynolds, 2013) and Taiwan (Chen & Astor, 2009). ...
... A qualitative study by De Wet (2012) found that there is a scarcity of research on the antecedents of TTB. The quantitative studies that explore the antecedents of TTB emphasise demographic characteristics, such as the gender (Kauppi & Pӧrhӧlä, 2012b;Özkılıç, 2012) and age (Khoury-Kassabri, Astor & Benbenishty, 2009) of the perpetrators, as well as the age (Emmerová & Kohútová, 2017;Pervin & Turner, 1998), gender (De Wet & Jacobs, 2006Özkılıç, 2012) and years of working experience of the victimised teachers (De Wet & Jacobs, 2006;Emmerová & Kohútová, 2017;Özkılıç, 2012;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998). ...
This article reports on the findings of a small-scale, extant, qualitative social media research study on commenters’ understanding of the antecedents of teacher-targeted bullying. Comments on an article posted by Sarah Sorge (2013) on The Educator’s Room were used as data source. Guided by an ecological model and the attribution theory, the study identified victim and perpetrator attributes, colleagues’ indifference and unprofessionalism, school management’s lack of leadership and failure to address the problem, as well as socio-cultural factors and policy changes as antecedents of teacher-targeted bullying. It is argued that conventional teacher-learner power relations are flawed due to the unsupportive, even antagonistic attitudes of parents, colleagues, society at large, people in leadership positions and policy makers towards the victims of teacher-targeted bullying. It is concluded that, despite ethical dilemmas, the advent of the Internet and social media has created opportunities for researchers to use comments posted on the Internet as a data source to investigate teacher-targeted bullying.
... Furthermore, the abuse of drugs and alcohol among school learners as well as gangsterism and a tough neighbourhood purport the problem (Kondrasuk, Greene, Waggoner, Edwards, & Nayak-Rhodes, 2005). Teachers seem to be of the opinion that, on the one hand, parents are afraid or unwilling to discipline their children and, on the other, quick to take action against teachers who discipline them (De Wet, 2012a). Within the school system, various studies suggest that both boys and girls equally bully teachers (De Wet, 2012a;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998) and learner-on-teacher bullying peaks during the 9th and 10th years in school (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Chen & Astor, 2009). ...
... Teachers seem to be of the opinion that, on the one hand, parents are afraid or unwilling to discipline their children and, on the other, quick to take action against teachers who discipline them (De Wet, 2012a). Within the school system, various studies suggest that both boys and girls equally bully teachers (De Wet, 2012a;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998) and learner-on-teacher bullying peaks during the 9th and 10th years in school (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Chen & Astor, 2009). This is in line with trends regarding learner-on-learner bullying in schools: bullying tends to peak in Grade 9, and both boys and girls are equally likely to be perpetrators of bullying, even though boys are more likely to be guilty of physical and girls of relational aggression (Espelage, Meban, & Swearer, 2004). ...
... Teachers feel that they are not taken seriously and are expected to handle the situation (Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998). Some are told that they simply overreact (De Wet, 2012a). In a study in a poor area of London, Pervin and Turner (1998, p. 5) found that the "situation was not resolved despite seeking help from school management". ...
... Bullying is defined as repeated, unprovoked acts intended to inflict physical or nonphysical harm against a target (Delfabbro 2006;De Wet 2012;Marraccini 2013). It has been recognised as a major public health problem in educational institutions since the seminal work of Olweus (1977). ...
... It has been recognised as a major public health problem in educational institutions since the seminal work of Olweus (1977). Much of the work after Olweus portrayed bullying as a peer-to-peer problem at basic and secondary school levels; however, there is now a growing recognition that peers may not be the only source of bullying (De Wet 2012;Marraccini 2013) and that bullying may not be limited to basic and secondary schools (Einarsen, Matthiesen, and Skogstad 1998;Illing et al. 2016;Lund and Ross 2016;Lynne 1999). Recent studies have established that teachers, just as much as peers, may be an important source of bullying (Al-Hussain et al. 2008;Fried et al. 2012;Marraccini 2013). ...
Bullying in basic and secondary schools has received considerable research attention; empirical investigation of the phenomenon among university students has, however, been overlooked. There is a paucity of such studies in African universities. This study examined the prevalence and forms of bullying in a Ghanaian technical university, as well as victims’ characteristics. Four hundred and eighty-eight students completed self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The prevalence of bullying was high. Verbal and sexual harassment were commonly reported. Vulnerability to bullying was high among female students. This study adds to the scanty literature on the phenomenon in university settings. University administrators must confront bullying by instituting and subjecting faculty to disciplinary procedures and must punish culprits to create a congenial and non-threatening environment for academic work in universities.
... Despite differences in teacher-targeted victimization rates due to methodological differences between studies, the teacher targeted bullying at work is a problem which is quite widespread, but has received relatively little attention to teachers as multiple targeted victims in the school settings (Benefield, 2004;Bradshaw, Sawyer, & O'Brennan, 2007;Kõiv, 2011;McGuckin & Lewis, 2008;Riley, Duncan, & Edwards, 2011;NASUWT, 2012) compared with teacher-targeted bullying from pupils (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, & O'Brennan, 2011;De Wet, 2006, 2010a, 2010b2012;De Wet & Jacobs, 2006;James, Lawlor, Courtney, Flynn & Murphy, 2008;Kauppi & Pörhölä, 2012;Ozkilic & Kartal, 2012;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Terry, 1998). Thus, the teacher-targeted bullying from students, parents, staff, and principals is a cross-bordered problem in schools, whereby the assessment of teacher-targeted bullying mostly focuses on victimization by students (also called "educator targeted bullying" by De Wet, 2006, 2012 or "cross-peer abuse" by Terry, 1998) compared with teachers' victimization experiences generated by other perpetrators at workplace. ...
... Benefield, 2004;Bradshaw et al., 2007;De Wet & Jacobs, 2006;Kauppi & Pörhölä, 2012;McGuckin & Lewis, 2008;Pervin & Turner, 1998;Riley, Duncan & Edwards, 2011;Terry, 1998) versus only few (James et al., 2008;Terry, 1998) give the possible perpetrators perspective on the topic; and (2) most of the studies (e. g. all the above researchers) have used surveys to collect their data versus few (e.g. Fahie & Devine, 2014;De Wet, 2010a, 2010b, 2012Matsela & Kirsten 2014;Munday, 2003) have introduced qualitative approach to the topic. ...
The aim of the study was to describe changes in the prevalence of teacher multi-targeted workplace bullying in Estonia by means of a repeated cross-sectional design comparing two studies conducted 10 years apart. A comparison was conducted between participants from teachers’ self reports (n=573) in 2003 and those of (n=564) in 2013. The findings show a substantial increase during ten years in the prevalence of teacher targeted bullying in the teacher-pupil, teacher-teacher, teacher-school administrative staff, teacher-school maintenance staff, and teacher-parent relationships across different categories of victimization: Threat to professional status, threat to personal standing, isolation, and physical aggression.
... The lack of patience in young teachers, their lack of ability to control classes, sometimes their extra efforts to become too strict and parents' disrespectful attitude towards them encourage students to bully teachers (De Wet, 2012). In her study in the USA, Yahn (2012) has argued that bullying occurs with a focus to disregard, disempower, defeat and govern the victims. ...
Teachers can be potential victims of cyberbullying, particularly targeted by their students at their workplaces. The growing use of social media has been observed promoting cyberbullying in addition to face-to-face bullying. Often neglected by academic organisations and policymakers, cyberbullying has become one of the biggest challenges for teachers to manage normal teaching and learning. This article reports an examination of teachers’ experiences of how they were cyberbullied by students particularly on social media and their coping mechanisms. This qualitative study utilised online semi-structured interviews with twenty teachers and observation of their Facebook account to explore their familiarities with the digital era agitations. Findings indicate how teachers on social media become victims of trivial belittling, unethical requests, uninvited sexual advances made by students and colleagues, insolence, sabotaging of shared contents and trolling of manipulative contents. While this article explored individual coping strategies of sharing, ignoring and enhancing self-efficacy to handle technology strongly and confidently, it concludes with the implications of collaborative coordination necessary for the development of strong policies and strict cyber laws for ensuring teachers’ cybersecurity in similar contexts.
... Research on bullying in the last decade focused on children and adolescents as victims, adults as victims and workplace bullying, but not teacher -to -teacher bullying nor principal-to teacher bullying (Woudstra et al, 2018). Although bullying has been investigated widely, these types of bullying have received slight research consideration (De Wet, 2012). Moreover, it has been non-existent in public and political environment in most countries, which in turn has resulted in a disordered disconnected response from schools and governments (Garrett, 2014). ...
Bullying is a dangerous phenomenon because it is a continuous act that causes problems at school, university and even at work. Bullying comes in different forms; and one way of addressing this phenomenon has been through mediation programs that aim for student-peer mediation and that create a safe environments at schools. This present study investigated teachers' perceptions of teachers being bullied by their superiors or having witnessing other teachers being bullied. It also investigates whether teachers believed measures against bullying were taken on the part of management. 154 professionals participated in the study. According to the surveyed teachers, their superiors don't bully them. The data gathered indicated that these superiors do not humiliate them in public nor in private. Very few teachers admitted to being humiliated by their superiors (between 6% and 24%). Moreover, some teachers in Lebanon experience bullying and that female superiors were more prone to be the bullies and not much is being done regarding addressing the issue of bullying. An alarming finding is the fact that one teacher admitted to solving bullying incidents through beating the bully. The study reveals that mediation should be implemented in Lebanese schools to teachers as well.
... iours (Başar,, 2009). A teacher should have enough knowledge and skills related to classroom management in order to determine, remove and improve undesirable student behaviours (Yuksel, 2013;Ozcan, 2012;Demirtas;2011). In a well-managed classroom, students' level of responsibilities is high, and displaying undesirable behaviours is low (Basar, 2009). De Wet (2012 determined that the class environment and teacher's classroom management style plays an important role in revealing students' violent behaviours. ...
The aim of this study is to examine students’ bullying toward teachers and classroom management skills in terms of various variables. The sample of the study consisted of 422 participant teachers. The ‘Bullying toward Teachers Questionnaire’ and ‘Classroom Management Skills Scale’ were used as data collection instruments. According to the results, it was determined that 57.2% of participant teachers have not been bullied whereas 42.8 % have been bullied by their students. The teachers who have been bullied by their students were mostly woman, had undergraduate degrees and more than 16 years of teaching experience. There was no significant difference of teachers’ total scores and two sub-dimension scores of CMSS according to gender, school type, education level and years of experience variables. There were significant differences between bullied and non-bullied teachers’ total scores and two sub-dimension scores obtained from CMSS. It is evident that non-bullied teachers’ mean scores obtained from two sub-dimensions and total scores of CMSS were significantly higher than those of the bullied teachers. © 2019 Eurasian Society of Educational Research. All rights reserved.
... To date, only a few studies have identified multilevel correlates of this phenomenon (Khoury-Kassabri, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2009; Moon & McCluskey, 2016;Wet, 2012) and most of these rely on teacher reports. This limits the possibility of making valid statements about student-(importation) and school-related (deprivation) correlates of this type of aggression (for notable exceptions, see Khoury-Kassabri et al., 2009). ...
Relying on an importation and deprivation framework, the study assessed a variety of risk factors associated with self‐reported teacher‐targeted aggression among ninth grade students (n = 5,673). Using a cross‐sectional school survey conducted in one German federal state, two forms of teacher‐targeted aggression were assessed: verbal (insulting, threatening, and mocking) and physical (beating and pushing) aggression. Every ninth student reported verbal aggression, while 0.5% of students reported physical aggression against teachers. Multilevel probability models showed that individual importation factors (low self‐control, male gender, and exposure to severe parental violence), together with individual deprivation factors (repeated victimization by teachers and low school achievement) play a role in explaining teacher‐targeted aggression. The school‐level deprivation factor of negative teacher–student relationships was also relevant, whereas low teacher control and attending lower‐level schools were unrelated to the perpetration of teacher‐targeted aggression. The present study stresses the need to acknowledge the multilevel etiology of teacher‐targeted aggression.
... Metoodiliselt on vara semad uuringud selles vallas kahesugused: uuritud on õpilastepoolset õpetajate kiusa mist õpilaste hinnangute (nt James et al., 2008;Khoury-Kassabri, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2009) ja õpetajate hinnangute alusel. Õpetajate ohvrikäitumise levimuse ja olemuse kvantitatiivsed uuringud, milles kasutatakse enesekohaseid küsimustikke, on kasvava huvi objektiks eri maades, eriti võrdluses kvalitatiivsete uuringutega õpilastepoolse õpetajate kiusamise kohta (nt De Wet, 2010bWet, , 2012). Näiteks selgub Soomes tehtud uuringust ( Kauppi & Pörhölä, 2012), et ligikaudu veerand õpetajatest oli kogenud õpilastepoolset kiusamist aeg-ajalt, 3% sageli ja 4% peaaegu iga päev ning et õpetajate kogemused õpilastepoolse kiusamisega olid seotud eelkõige otseste (nt solvamine, hirmutamine), kuid ka kaudset laadi professionaalseid oskusi (nt koostööst keeldumine, ignoreerimine) puudutavate kiusamisliikidega. ...
Uurimuse eesmärk on võrrelda õpetajate ja sotsiaalpedagoogide ohvrikäitumise levimust ja olemust seoses õpilaste- ja täiskasvanutepoolse (õpetajate, juhtkonna, lapsevanemate, teiste koolitöötajate) kiusamisega Eestis. Üleriigilisest läbilõikeuuringust, mille käigus vastasid enesekohasele ankeedile 564 õpetajat ja 153 sotsiaalpedagoogi, ilmneb, et õpetajate seas oli ulatuslikumalt levinud õpilastepoolne kiusamine ja sotsiaalpedagoogide seas täiskasvanutevaheline kiusamine. Kinnitust leiab püstitatud hüpotees, et õpetajate puhul on õpilaste ja lapsevanemate verbaalne kiusamine ohuna personaalsele positsioonile ulatuslikum kui sotsiaalpedagoogidel. Lisaks selgub uurimistulemustest, et õpetajad on kogenud õpetajate- ja juhtkonnapoolse kiusamise liikidest sagedamini füüsilist isolatsiooni ning sotsiaalpedagoogid lapsevanematepoolse ja teiste koolitöötajate poolse kiusamise liikidest info varjamist. Uuritavate ohvrikäitumise levimust kiusamiskategooriate ja -liikide kaupa interpreteeritakse varasemate uuringute taustal.
Summary
Interracial conflict and cultural divisions have been a serious challenge in the church globally. Through the years there has been vast available literature about the phenomenon as it happens and this study will specifically explore it in the Methodist church at the Moreleta circuit in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. This article seeks to explore factors affecting developing an inclusive missional church. It aims to contribute to research in this area and suggests developing an inclusive missional church. It is presented as a qualitative study conducted in the churches of the circuit based on semi-structured interviews with some church leaders and pastors in the circuit. The study reveals some factors of interracial conflict and cultural divisions that contributed to the article. It shows that there are various factors affecting developing an inclusive missional in the above-mentioned circuit. This results in a generally unsatisfactory level of relationships. Contribution: This article aims to contribute to research in the practice of developing an inclusive missional church in the Methodist church at Moreleta circuit. It hopes to also contribute to the Methodist church of Southern Africa as a whole.
Bullying in school has become an international concern in recent years, and the issue became urgent after school closure during COVID Pandemic. International studies have identified teacher-targeted bullying by students as a real and harmful issue for teacher wellbeing. Our paper sets out discursive issues surrounding bullying against teachers as targets of intentional bullying. It reports on the findings of a small-scale, extant, qualitative research study on commenters’ understanding of the antecedents of teacher-targeted bullying. The aim was to gain insights into the teachers´ targeted bullying from the perspective of teacher victims. We conducted a qualitative descriptive research design stemming from semi-structured interviews with victims of teacher-targeted bullying. A thematic content analysis of the data was generated from interviews with seventeen victimized teachers as a snowball sampling. The sample consisted of male (n = 7) and female (n = 10) participants from urban school locations in the capital of Czech Republic. The focus of our study was to determine how the teachers who had been experiencing bullying by their students described and perceived the nature and consequences attributed to such bullying. The findings indicate that the victims of teacher-targeted bullying were exposed repeatedly over long time verbal and nonverbal bullying, ignoring the teaching activities and other threats directed against teachers. Our results suggest bullying had a negative influence on the victims’ private lives (family, colleagues), physical and mental health and self-esteem.
Educator-targeted bullying (ETB) describes bullying behavior of learners targeting educators (de Wet, 2012). Most studies of ETB in the U.S. and China have collected quantitative data; however, qualitative data provides more detailed information, thus leading to deeper understanding of phenomena (Hilal & Alabri, 2013).
The current data were drawn from a larger study of ETB including 30 U.S. K-12 teachers (83% female; 80% White; plurality of elementary school teachers) and 88 Chinese K-12 teachers (78% female; 96% Han ethnicity; majority middle school teachers) who reported that they had experienced or witnessed ETB in the previous 12 months. The current data were collected through written open-ended questions in which teachers were asked to report on the most stressful incident in which a student bullied them (responses from 18 U.S. and 34 Chinese teachers). Teachers were asked to describe the bullying incident (i.e., what happened and how they responded), why they thought the incident occurred, and how the incident impacted them emotionally and professionally.
Both U.S. and Chinese teachers reported experiencing verbal, physical, and relational bullying. U.S. teachers reported experiencing verbal bullying (e.g., threatening - repeatedly yelling “Can I murder you!”) most frequently, followed by relational bullying (e.g., challenging authority) and physical bullying (e.g., physical threatening - “pretended to choke” the teacher). Chinese teachers reported experiencing verbal (e.g., threatening - saying “… [student bully] would kill me [teacher]”) and relational bullying (e.g., repetitively ignoring or refusing to follow instructions) most frequently, followed by physical bullying (e.g., aggressive gesturing - showing the middle finger, and damaging property - deflating a car tire). Both U.S. and Chinese teachers responded to student bullying by involving other adults (e.g., school administrators, other teachers, and students’ parents), attempting to resolve bullying themselves, and taking no action. Both U.S. and Chinese teachers attributed bullying to student characteristics (e.g., immaturity, impulsivity, and attention-seeking), and reported that bullying occurred in response to their efforts to manage students’ behavior. Both U.S. and Chinese teachers indicated that experiencing ETB led to negative emotional and professional (e.g., negatively affecting student-teacher relationships and relationships with colleagues) impacts.
This study finds that U.S. and Chinese teachers reported similar experiences with ETB, despite differences in culture and educational systems. The focus on responses to and attributions for ETB expands the current literature, and suggests possible barriers to teachers seeking help to deal with ETB experiences.
The current study examined cyberbullying of teachers through reports of the victims
themselves and those of bystanders who witnessed cyberbullying against their
colleagues. Respondents included 269 teachers from across the country who answered
self-report questionnaires. The research findings reveal a high incidence of online
bullying of teachers, with 52% reporting being victims of online bullying and 77% of
the bystanders reporting witnessing such abuse against fellow teachers. Moreover, in
middle school homeroom teachers tend to report higher frequency of cyberbullying
than do subject-area teachers. Only 22.7% of the bystanders and 21.4% of the victims
themselves reported bullying incidents to those in positions of authority. These
findings shed light on a behavior that occurs with considerable frequency, though very
little attention is paid to it in the field of education. The article discusses the findings’
implications both with respect to the teachers' experience and to the consequences for
the students
"The aim of this study was to gain insights into the bullying of teachers by their learners from the perspective of victims of teacher-targeted bullying by learners. This study followed a qualitative and descriptive research design stemming from semi-structured personal interviews with victims of teacher-targeted bullying. A thematic content analysis of the data generated from semi-structured personal interviews with six victimized teachers as a snowball sampling. The sample consisted of male (n=2) and female (n=4) participants from rural (n=3) and urban (n=3) school locations in Estonia. The focus of this study was to determine how the teachers who have experienced bullying by their students describe the nature, influence and reasons attributed to such bullying. The findings indicate that the victims of teacher-targeted bullying by students were exposed repeatedly over long time verbal bullying, ignoring the teacher and other threats and cyber-attacks directed against teachers, whereby line between learners’ misbehavior at classroom and bullying behavior was recognized viewing bullying as group-based phenomenon. Bullying against teachers by pupils had a negative influence on the victims’ teaching and learning, as well as their private lives; and victims perceived the lack of support from educational authorities."
Bullying leads to trauma experiences. In many instances, bullies
are victims of bullying and/or other traumatic experiences. Neuroscience
has shown that this negatively influences the brain and leads to discipline
problems. The fight, flight or freeze response associated with trauma,
influences the behaviour of the victims as well as the bully. Most adults
use a punitive approach to try and change this negative behaviour. Unfortunately,
this usually exacerbates the problem. In this paper the restorative
practices approach is explained as an alternative to address bullying
and cyber bullying. The difference between a punitive and a restorative
approach to wrongdoing is explained. In a restorative approach, the focus
is on fixing the harm caused by the transgressor and teaching socially
acceptable behaviour in a non-punitive manner. The restorative practices
model that consist of different levels of intervention is explained within
the context of cyber bullying. The model provides guidelines for a whole
school approach to preventing deviant behaviour such as cyber bullying.
In this chapter, we consider how teacher professionalism is challenged by teacher-targeted bullying and harassment (TTBH) in Australian schools. Informed by findings from our exploratory mixed method study of TTBH in Australia, the incidence of student bullying towards teachers suggests that conventional views of professionalism need rethinking. International research reveals that TTBH occurs irrespective of an individual’s innate gifts, talents, experience, commitment or traits. TTBH has been attributed to a range of factors external to personal professional expertise and its incidence undermines or compromises the sustained practice of victimised teachers. Yet, in our neoliberal climate of governmentality, where performativity pressures inhibit disclosure of struggle, TTBH has been invisibilised. In a culture dominated by managerialism, standards and compliance, the right of teachers to a safe workplace needs urgent redress. Until government policy explicitly addresses the provenance and extent of this issue, teacher vulnerability to student and parent-enacted TTBH threatens teacher well-being.
Social workers are not commonly employed in South African schools. However, various role players, policy documents and court findings directly or indirectly refer to the need for social services for learners. Teachers cannot fully provide this service, since they are not trained to do so, and they also do not have the time to fully support the psychosocial development of learners – and this could be detrimental to the pursuit of quality education. This conceptual paper argues that, although not many social workers are employed by the Department of Basic Education, social services as such should be a high priority in basic education. Policy frameworks, legislation and case law provide sufficient evidence that there is a need for more social workers in South African schools. These professionals are a necessity in order to ensure that learners’ right to quality education is fully realised. The article also explains how school social workers could contribute to this quest for quality education and, specifically, within the context of the 4A framework. The article concludes with an outline of what could be expected from school social workers within the 4A framework.
Learner-to-teacher bullying is a focus area that has not been widely researched. The current research, underpinned by the ecosystemic paradigm, examined the proportion of teachers who reported exposure to bullying by learners. The study was carried out by using the Learner-to-teacher Bullying Questionnaire developed for this research. Additionally, the potential effect that learner-to-teacher bullying may have on teachers’ experience of mental health was investigated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire. In a convenience sample consisting of 153 public secondary school teachers in the Tshwane area, 62.1% of the teachers reported exposure to verbal bullying, 34.6% to physical bullying, 27% to indirect bullying, and 6.6% to cyber bullying. Mann-Whitney U Tests were performed and indicated significant differences in teachers’ mean anxiety and depression scores across the four types of learner-to-teacher bullying. Learner-to-teacher bullying can result in negative emotions, disempowerment, low morale, and low motivation of various roleplayers in the school system. It is thus of vital importance to protect teachers, create adequate resources to eliminate learner-to-teacher bullying, and work towards improving teachers’ mental health. © 2018, South African Journal of Education. All rights reserved.
No school is exempt from violence. Consequently, school safety is identified as a topic of great concern on both a national and international level. While this has resulted in a significant focus on learners’ safety in schools, relatively little attention has been given to violence against, and safety of, the educators in the school environment. Educator victimisation, in various forms, may be a notable problem. However, the true extent is unknown, due to issues such as general underreporting of such incidents, and insufficient research on the topic. This article takes a closer look at the nature and extent of the safety issues faced by educators, and the numerous implications which may result from this, including the negative impact it has on not only the educators themselves, but on the education system as a whole. There are various factors which contribute to violence against educators, and through the examination of these issues, rights and responsibilities come to the fore as a main theme – specifically those held by educators and learners, and the conundrum often created in trying to balance these. This is important both in beginning to understanding the problem, as well as formulating a set of relevant, comprehensive recommendations for moving forward, and finding a solution in the creation of a culture of human rights, as opposed to a culture of violence.
This instrumental case study reports on the unique experiences of a secondary school teacher who was a victim of learner cyberbullying. This teacher experienced severe emotional distress, family stress, anxiety, anger, intense humiliation and loss of dignity as a result of cyberbullying. On a professional level he felt unsupported by his teachers’ union, school management team and teaching authorities. Support from his family, his community and the opportunity to share his experience with other teachers influenced his resilience positively while taking action made him feel like a role model for other teachers. This study highlights the effects of aggression in schools and raises concern about school climate and the need for social emotional competence programmes for learners.
During the past two decades effort was concentrated on the nature of bullying, on the characteristics of perpetrators and victims, along with the efforts to develop several theoretical and intervention frameworks (Coyne, 2011). Bullying happens in many different social contexts (e.g. schools, residential homes, prisons, workplaces) and at different age levels (Monks &Coyne, 2011).
I report on findings emanating from in-depth personal interviews with victims of educator-targeted bullying (ETB). Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the narratives. The findings indicate that the victims of ETB were exposed repeatedly over time to verbal, non-verbal, psychological, and physical abuse during and after school hours. ETB had a negative influence on the victims' private lives, as well as on teaching and on learning. Lastly, I found that ETB may lead to a breakdown of relations between victims and the bullies' parents and the members of the community in which schools are situated.
Most research on school violence focuses on the experiences of the students rather than on the perceptions of the educational staff. As part of the first national survey on school violence in Israel, this study examines the perceptions of homeroom teachers on violence in their schools. Self-administered anonymous questionnaires were answered by 1521 teachers from 232 schools. This sample, derived from schools throughout Israel, represents all the sectors in public education in Israel, including primary, junior high and high schools from the Jewish religious, Jewish secular and Arab sectors. Our findings indicate that many teachers in Israel are exposed to a considerable amount of verbal and physical violence. Even so, most of them think that violence is not a big problem at their school and, consequently, report feeling safe within school grounds. Teachers also report on a lack of training in dealing with violence. There are slight but clear differences between teachers in different school levels and cultural groups.
Date revised - 20060424, Language of summary - English, Number of references - 73, Pages - 257-273, ProQuest ID - 621141924, PubXState - NJ, SubjectsTermNotLitGenreText - 5097; 6661; 7252 8699 518 853 1774 4232 7662 7631 221; 864; 1105 6912 221 7631 853; 141 704; 2158; 6024; 6401; 7219 4256; 8689 7662 7631 853, Target audience - Psychology: Professional & Research, Last updated - 2012-09-10, docISBN - 0805852239; 0805852247, Corporate institution author - Swearer, Susan M.; Peugh, James; Espelage, Dorothy L.; Siebecker, Amanda B.; Kingsbury, Whitney L.; Bevins, Katherine S., DOI - PSIN-2006-03632-017; 2006-03632-017; 0805852239; 0805852247, Adair, Vivienne A., Dixon, Robyn S. 2000 Ask your mother not to make yummy sandwiches: Bullying in New Zealand secondary schools. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 35 2 207-221, Akos, P. (2002). Student Perceptions of the transition to middle school. 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Bully busters: A teacher's manual for helping bullies, victims, and bystanders (Grades 6-8). Champaign, IL: Research Press., O'connell, P., Pepler, D. 1999 Peer involvement in bullying : insights and challenges for intervention Journal of Adolescence 22 4 437-452, Olweus, D. (1993b). Bullying at school. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers., Pellegrini, A. D., Bartini, M. 1999 School bullies, victims, and aggressive victims : Factors relating to group affiliation and victimization in early adolescence Journal of Educational Psychology 91 2 216-224, Pellegrini, A.D., Long, Jeffrey D. 2002 A longitudinal study of bullying, dominance, and victimization during the transition from primary school through secondary school British Journal of Developmental Psychology 20 2 259-280, Pellegrini, Anthony D., Bartini, Maria 2001 Dominance in early adolescent boys: Affiliative and aggressive dimensions and possible functions. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 47 1 142-163, Pellegrini, A. D. 2002 Bullying, victimization, and sexual harassment during the transition to middle school. Educational Psychologist 37 3 151-163, Perry, David G., Hodges, Ernest V. E. 2001 Determinants of chronic victimization by peers: A review and new model of family influence. Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized. 73-104, Plybon, Laura E., Kliewer, Wendy 2001 Neighborhood types and externalizing behavior in urban school-age children: Tests of direct, mediated, and moderated effects. Journal of Child and Family Studies 10 4 419-437, Rodkin, P C, Hodges, EVE 2003 Bullies and victims in the peer ecology: Four questions for psychologists and school professionals School Psychology Review 32 3 384-400, Rodkin, Philip C. 2004 Peer Ecologies of Aggression and Bullying. Bullying in American schools: A social-ecological perspective on prevention and intervention. 87-106, Salmivalli, Christina 2001 Group view on victimization: Empirical findings and their implications. 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This study reports preliminary findings of a national survey on student violence against teachers in Taiwanese schools; 14,022 students from elementary to high school (grades 4 to 12) participate in this study. Students were given a structured and anonymous questionnaire including a scale for reporting their violent behavior against teachers. Findings suggest the prevalence of violence against teachers varies by gender, grade level, and school type. A majority of perpetrators reported engaging in violence because of a teacher's unreasonable expectations. Findings indicate that intervention programs need to focus on promoting the quality of teacher-student interactions as a major prevention variable.
Community violence that spills over to the workplace is substantially impacting the quality of work/life in South Africa. Gold mining is one of the country's leading industries and also one of the most dangerous. Internal and external employee assistance programs are well represented in South Africa and are helping employees deal with the economic and psychological fall-out of community violence and work related accidents.
Hardly a day goes by without reports of incidents of school bullying or recommendations for quick fixes to the problem. Parents and educators are often left trying to solve a difficult problem without sufficient evidence to support suggested remedies. Drawing on a wealth of research, Ken Rigby provides both parents and educators with clear explanations and effective strategies for combating bullying among children and preventing children from becoming involved in bullying situations. The book explores key issues such as ways to empower children to deal with bullies, the crucial role positive peer influences can play, and how schools can develop effective anti-bullying programs.
Children and bullying is a vital resource for educators and parents alike as they work to create safe learning environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In 1996, the World Health Assembly declared violence a major public health issue. To follow up on this resolution, on Oct 3 this year, WHO released the first World Report on Violence and Health. The report analyses different types of violence including child abuse and neglect, youth violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, elder abuse, self-directed violence, and collective violence. For all these types of violence, the report explores the magnitude of the health and social effects, the risk and protective factors, and the types of prevention efforts that have been initiated. The launch of the report will be followed by a 1-year Global Campaign on Violence Prevention, focusing on implementation of the recommendations. This article summarises some of the main points of the world report.
The current study presents the prevalence of students' reports of perpetration of violence toward peers and teachers among 16,604 7th- through 11th-grade Jewish and Arab students in Israel and examines the individual and school contextual factors that explain students' violence. The study explores how students' reports of violence are influenced by individual factors (gender, age, perception of school climate and intervention) and school contextual factors (cultural affiliation, SES of students' families, school and class size, school climate, intervention). Almost one third of all students reported at least one form of perpetration toward peers, and one in five reported perpetration against teachers. Compared to the school climate characteristics, school organizational factors, and cultural affiliation, students' SES has the highest contribution to explained variance in reports of violence toward others. The discussion highlights the need to allocate more resources to schools in low-SES contexts to protect low-SES students from school violence.
A quantitative study was undertaken amongst educators in the Free State and the Eastern Cape to ascertain whether Educator-targeted Bullying (ETB) is a fallacy given credence by the popular media or if it is a part of the daily lives of (some) educators. A questionnaire, adapted from the one used by Pervin and Turner (1998), was compiled to use as a data-gathering instrument. A convenient sample was drawn from educators who were engaged in further studies at the University of the Free State. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed. Of these, 579 were returned and 544 could be used. Data was analysed using the Data Analysis Tool of Microsoft Excel and Intercooled Stata software packages. The educators who participated in the study overwhelmingly indicated that they suffer at the hands of the learners. Although the frequency of incidents varies, 76,7% of the respondents indicated that they are exposed to some or other form of ETB. The investigation into the profile of the most likely victims of ETB revealed the following:Male educators appear to be more exposed to all types of ETB than female educators; educators with 21 or more years' of experience seem to be more exposed to most types of ETB than educators with less experience; respondents of 51 years of age or older seem to be least exposed to ETB, while the respondents in the age group 41 to 50 seem to be the most exposed; respondents on REQV level 13 seem to be more exposed to ETB than those on REQV 14; educators are bullied less in primary and secondary schools, than in combined, intermediate and senior secondary schools. When respondents were requested to indicate who they perceive to be the most likely victims of ETB, they responded in the following way: 34,0% indicated that they consider educators new to the school as likely victims of ETB; 39,9% consider inexperienced educators targets of ETB; and 64,1% expressed the opinion that all educators are likely to be victims of ETB. Against the background of the foregoing results it is recommended that educators' trade unions should fight for their members' rights to teach in a safe environment. It is furthermore suggested that ETB should form an integral feature of a whole school anti-bullying policy.
This book presents an overview of the main parameters of school bullying. Emphasis is put on the definition of bullying, the extent of bullying, the stability of the bully and victim roles, ways of coping with bullying, the forms bullying can take, the characteristics of bullies, the characteristics of victims, age differences, as well as other measurements.
This study examined bullying and risk and protective factors In school and family domains, in a sample of 1,565 Grade 11 students in 41 high schools in two rural school districts In South Africa. The questionnaire Included two questions to identify bullies, victims and bully-victims, as well as measures drawn from the Communities That Care Youth Survey, which addressed risk and protective factors in the school and family. Multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate the association between risk and protective factors on bullying outcome. Students reported that In the last year, 3.90% were bullies, 16.49% were victims of bullying, and 5.45% were bully-victims. Geographical area was significantly associated with bullying status. Achieving relatively higher grades than classmates was significantly associated with victimization, as was rewards for conventional Involvement In school. The higher levels of academic achievement were significantly associated with bully-victim status, and a moderate-high level of rewards for conventional involvement with bullying. No family factors were identified as associated with bullying or with victimization. Results provide confirmation that bullying is prevalent in rural South Africa, and suggest that the school domain plays a key role in establishing risk of victimization. Copright
This article reviews the history of violence in the schools, which is of significant concern, particularly in urban areas. Types and frequencies of violence in schools are presented, along with student, familial, and school factors that are related to school-based violence. Impacts on psychological functioning and the educational process for students are discussed. Strategies are then presented that administrators, teachers, support, and counseling staff can use to decrease the likelihood of violence.
This paper addresses the issue of bullying of teachers by pupils, which is referred to as teacher targeted bullying (TTB). The aim of this study was to document the nature, duration and level of TTB in an inner London school. The writers believe the results indicate the need for public and professional recognition that TTB exists and that it is a complex problem which can affect teacher performance, morale, and student learning.
Media coverage of schooling around the world from the US and the UK to South Africa convey images of violence. Many academic texts confirm the seriousness and prevalence of violence in schools. An obvious conclusion to be drawn is that schools, far from being peaceful and safe places of learning are sites of violence. Some views go so far as to suggest that schools actually produce violence. The theme of this special issue—schooling as violence—picks up on this view. In this article I shall discuss and interrogate various definitions of violence in order to get some sense of what violence is understood to be, who is (and is not) affected, and how seriously. I will be arguing that violence is best understood using a gender perspective. A gendered analysis allows an examination of violence in terms beyond victim and perpetrator. It allows one to get inside violence, to see how people are implicated. Finally, I will critique discourses of violence and argue that they actually stand in the way of successful engagement. In order successfully to work for peace we need to use understandings of violence which are not moralistic and prescriptive and which grapple with the continued existence of social inequalities.
Public schools that use punitive approaches toward student discipline can unwittingly promote violence and other antisocial behavior. This article reviews constructive and preventive methods to reduce school violence and vandalism. Various strategies are presented and discussed.
Crime and violence has come to be perceived by the general populace as one of the primary challenges facing contemporary South Africa. Given the alarmingly high rates of youth victimization, this article attempts to shed light on one of the correlates influencing this phenomenon by exploring the relationship between violence exposure in two social locales, that is, the family and community, and criminal victimization. To this end, this article draws on the research findings of the first National Youth Victimisation Study conducted in 2005 by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention. The results from the study, which was based on a sample of 4,409 young people between the ages of 12 and 22 years, indicate that violence exposure in the social environments in which young people live increases their vulnerability to subsequent criminal victimization.
Background. The relationship between teachers and pupils as a possible medium for bullying behaviour has not figured significantly in research into this area, despite possible consequences with regard to levels of aggressive behaviour generally within schools.
Aims. It was argued that bullying might not be restricted to peer-abuse, but that it may manifest across the peer divide, which for the purposes of this study has been referred to as ‘cross-peer abuse’. The study specifically examined the ‘cross-peer abuse’ of teachers by their pupils, and primarily aimed to establish incidence. Secondary considerations were also mooted, however, concerning gender differences, and length of service.
Samples. This study acquired data regarding the incidence of bullying against teachers by pupils (N=101) from the teaching staff of seven urban high schools.
Methods. Questionnaires were distributed to teaching staff. The questionnaire was explicit in its definition of bullying, in order to pre-empt subjective perceptions of the behaviour.
Results. The results indicate a probability that an incidence of cross-peer abuse — definable as bullying against teachers by their pupils — exists, both from teachers' self reported data, and that reported regarding their colleagues. Higher incidence for females was found not to be the case. Predictions that less experienced teachers may be more at risk were supported.
Conclusions. The results are sufficiently convincing to suggest that the problem is more pervasive than anticipated, and would warrant more substantive research. If, as has been implied by some research, bullying follows a cyclic pattern, then the role of the teacher within that cycle may be regarded as significant. As an additional stress factor for teachers, there may be significant implications for future legal redress, if bully-abuse by pupils could be established as an intrinsic part of such medical difficulties.
Data collected from 731 teachers were used to examine the consequences of violence directed toward teachers while in the workplace. Analyses showed that the majority of respondents (n = 585, 80.0%) had experienced school-related violence—broadly defined—at one point in their careers. Serious violence (actual, attempted, or threatened physical violence) was less common, but still common enough to be of concern (n = 202, 27.6%). Violence predicted physical and emotional effects, as well as teaching-related functioning. In addition, a model with fear as a potential mediator revealed that both fear and violence were independently predictive of these negative outcomes. Finally, analyses showed that, in general, women reported higher levels of physical symptoms compared to men. We discuss the implications of violence against teachers in terms of personal consequences and the implications for mental health professionals working in an educational setting.
Teachers-The new targets of schoolyard bullying?
- J Benefield
- Milisa L. M.
Some questions parents ask about school bullies
- S W Twemlow
- F C Sacco
Bullying in rural high schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: prevalence, and risk and protective factors at school and in the family
- L M Milisa
- C L Ward
- A J Filsher
- C J Lombard
Workplace bullying: What we know, who is to blame, and what can we do?
- C Rayner
Workplace bullying: a guide to risk assessing
- D Ellames
Aggression and bullying
- S Guerin
- E Hennessy