School Bullying

Teachers helping students cope

Phillip Slee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781138911932
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317432593
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology

To effectively cope with school bullying it is essential to understand the issues underpinning student peer group dynamics in the school, classroom and community and this view lies at the heart of the text. While the experience of bullying others or being victimized is identified with an individual or group the solution lies with the systems eg community, school, classroom or family of which the individual is part. Particular emphasis is given to the role of prosocial behavior and a strengths based perspective in addressing how students cope with school bullying within a systemic context.

The text is strongly informed by the author's experience in developing and conducting national and international school-based anti-bullying and mental health interventions. The book advocates a systems based approach to addressing school bullying as illustrated with a program developed and evaluated by the author called the 'P.E.A.C.E. Pack: A program for reducing bullying in schools'. This book translates research into practice with a strong evidence-based application drawing on an extensive data base. Each chapter contains practical information and research on school/classroom/community applications, trends and issues in the field and practical ideas for implementing anti-bullying measures.

The first two sections consider ways to promote positive peer relations in schools and the dynamics of peer groups. Consideration is then given to cyber bullying and to theories explaining violence, aggression and bullying. Later sections examine the nature and effects of bullying, from early childhood through to adolescence on vulnerable groups, including students with special educational needs and disabilities and LGBTQ young people. The book details information for schools and teachers on ways to collect data and information to inform the interventions and policies of their school. School and classroom based resources for teachers, counsellors and administrators are identified.

With school bullying now a matter of international concern not only to children, young people and their caregivers, but to schools and teachers at the forefront, this book will be important reading for all students in psychology, education, health and social welfare, as well as school administrators, teachers, counsellors and childcare professionals.

Chapter 1
Promoting positive peer relations at school

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Key terms: altruism; bullying; friendship; prosocial peer relations; victimization

Introduction

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Gandhi

It may seem unusual to commence a text on school bullying with a chapter on children and young people’s prosocial behavior. But it is a common observation that humans are extraordinarily helpful to others, even to non-relatives. It also reflects my personal belief that all too often we are overwhelmed by all that is wrong with the world and all that is ‘bad’ in human nature, overlooking the good and positive things that people do to and for each other. In any text on school bullying then it seems obvious that, in facilitating coping behavior, an important place to begin is with a discussion of prosocial and altruistic helping by others. Research identifying the ‘protective’ function of ‘friendship’ and reasons students give for not helping others will be used to better understand how coping strategies can be enhanced. This chapter will provide an overview of the international research relating to prosocial behavior with biological, historical, cultural and social factors related to school bullying providing a backdrop to the discussion. The links with coping with bullying will be made in relation to how best to activate the actions of bystanders.

Figure 1.1 Do you want to play?

Prosocial behavior

Intersubjectivity

We are born to generate shifting states of self-awareness, to show them to other persons, and to provoke interest and affectionate responses from them.

(Trevarthen, 2010, p. 1)

As a personal observation, a few years ago I was on a plane and seated across the aisle from my wife and I was a family with two children – the youngest being a toddler. In the course of the three-hour trip I became aware of the youngest child looking over at me and ‘inviting’ me to engage with her in some way. We then began a short game of ‘peek-a-boo’ which we both enjoyed before I went back to my reading. At the end of the trip as we stood up to take our bags from the overhead locker I felt a light tap on my shoulder, and looking around saw the young child leaning her head on one side and looking to play the ‘peek-a-boo’ game again. I was distracted with managing my bags and looked away, but again felt a light tap on my shoulder. I asked the mother how old the little girl was and the mother replied ‘14 months – she is such a social little thing!’

Point of interest

The very first day I met Ai remains vivid in my memory. It was a chilly day in November 1977. I went down to a room in the basement of the institute. There were no windows and no light except a bulb hanging from the ceiling. A tiny chimpanzee was sitting on a bench. I looked into her eyes. She looked back into mine. We held each other’s gaze, and what surprised me most was that she showed signs neither of fear nor of threat. In my experience with monkeys, I had learned that a direct gaze had clear aggressive connotations – a Japanese monkey would, in response, open his mouth in an attempt to threaten, or retract his lips and reveal his teeth, in a grimace that signals fear of a stranger. However, this infant chimpanzee continued to look into my eyes. I had nothing with me; no gift to give the tiny newcomer. Then, I noticed that I happened to be wearing arm warmers over my lab coat. I took off one arm warmer and showed it to her. She received it and paused for a while. Then, she suddenly pulled it up over her arm, and played with it for a while, moving it up and down along her arm. Eventually, she extended her arm and gave me back the arm warmer. I took it. All the while, she continued to look into my eyes. At that moment, she touched my heart, and I touched her future.

While more developed than most animals the human infant is also more dependent, relying heavily on warm and nurturing care-giving to survive – indeed, one particular view would argue that all that the child becomes is formed by experience. As Trevarthen (2010, p. 3) notes, this view almost naturally leads to the conclusion that ‘developmental science has conceived the initial state of the human mind as lacking intentions, feelings, and consciousness. It is hardly a mind at all.’ Clearly, as Trevarthen goes on to note, this is not the case, even amongst the youngest of children.

As reviewed by Slee et al. (2012) there is a substantial body of research, supported by rigorously conducted experimental and observational studies, which suggests that from the moment of birth the infant is initiating, synchronizing and responding in harmony with those around them. As a personal aside, my Ph.D. was on the nature of mother–infant emotional interaction and my findings confirmed that there is an amazing synchrony to the emotional life of mothers and their six-month-old infants. Prosocial behaviors, including helping, sharing, comforting and cooperating, have been defined as behaviors benefiting others and/or promoting positive social relationships (e.g. Eisenberg et al. 2006). It is generally understood that prosocial children enjoy more positive relationships with peers, advanced play skills and enhanced cooperative skills.

Reflection

What do you consider ‘prosocial’ behavior to be?

In a review of research Ensor and Hughs (2005) argued that studies of aggressive children demonstrate that it is the absence of positive social behavior (rather than the simple presence of aggression) that leads to rejection by peers. They conclude that this highlights the importance of positive social behaviors for establishing harmonious relationships. However, the matter of developmental changes in the frequency of prosocial behavior is a source of some debate. Meta-analytic findings (Fabes and Eisenberg, 1996) indicate a general age-related inc rease in prosocial behavior, but longitudinal studies of very young children do not always support this view. For example, Hay (1979) suggested that the capacity for prosocial acts emerges in the second year in life and declines thereafter. What is more generally agreed is that stable individual differences in prosocial behaviors can be found from about two years of age (Dunn and Munn, 1987; Hay et al., 1999).

Ideas for school and classroom

What is done in your school or classroom to promote students’ prosocial behavior? Generate a list of such behaviors to display in your classroom.

Prosocial behavior at school

As Wentzel et al. (2007, p. 895) have noted, ‘Sharing, helping, and cooperative forms of behavior are hallmarks of social competence in childhood and adolescence.’ The following discussion utilizes the Peer Relations Questionnaire (PRQ) (Rigby and Slee, 1993) which was designed to understand student experiences with victimization at school. The questionnaire takes about 5–7 minutes to complete and comprises 20 items in which students are asked to circle in relation to how often the statements are true for them. The answers range on a 4-point scale from never = 1 to very often = 4. The PRQ consists of three scales and several filler items: a Bully scale, a Victim scale and a Prosocial scale. The PRQ is a widely used instrument, which has been validated (e.g. see Tabaeian et al., 2012) and translated into several languages including Italian, Chinese and French.

In the study described here using data collected by the author, a sample of 9,722 Australian school students from Year 3 (approx. 8 y.o.) to Year 12 (approx. 16 y.o.) completed a purpose-designed questionnaire including the PRQ. Data collected included (i) a range of demographic information, e.g. age and year level; and (ii) experiences of victimization where amongst other questions students reported on their experience of victimization using a 6-point scale ranging from 1 = ‘bullied every day’ to 6 = ‘never bullied.’ Self-reported data were also collected on their bullying behavior (1 = often to 3 = never). The 20-item PRQ was also completed by students collecting self-reported data on their (a) tendency to be prosocial (e.g. ‘I enjoy helping others’), (b) tendency to bully (‘I like to make other kids scared of me’), and (c) tendency to be victimized (‘I get made fun of’).

Students also completed an ‘Attitude to Victim’ scale comprising three components: (i) rejection of ‘weak’ children, e.g. ‘soft kids make me sick’; (ii) approval of bullying, e.g. ‘kids who get picked on usually deserve it’; and (iii) support for victims, e.g. ‘It’s a good thing to help children who can’t defend themselves.’ The psychometrics for this scale are sound and were first reported in Rigby and Slee (1993).

First, examination was made of the prosocial scale for students across years 3–12, and the findings are reported in Figure 1.2. The present findings indicated that males (MPS) were significantly less prosocial than females (FPS) and primary school students were more prosocial than secondary school students. A consideration of developmental trends for the sample was made across years 3–12 and are illustrated in Figure 1.2. The trend line suggests that for both males and females there is a steady decline in prosocial behavior across the primary and secondary years, although females score higher than males at all year levels. The findings tend to support Hay (1979), indicating a decline in prosocial behavior across the childhood and adolescent years.

Figure 1.2 Australian school students’ scores on the PRQ from Year 3 (8 y.o.) to Year 12 (16 y.o.) (n = 9,722)

Prosocial behavior, bullying and victimization

Using the sample, consideration was then given to the possible association of prosocial behavior and the experience of victimization and the tendency to bully others at school. Importa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• 1 Promoting positive peer relations at school
• 2 The dynamics of the school peer group
• 3 Traditional/offline and cyber bullying
• 4 Theories of bullying
• 5 The developmental course of bullying
• 6 School, classroom, community and bullying
• 7 Students ‘at risk’ of being bullied
• 8 Assessing bullying
• 9 Coping with school bullying
• 10 Issues in addressing school bullying
• Index