OPINIONS OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS ON PEER BULLYING IN SCHOOLS

Abstract

This research aims to examine the opinions of school administrators and teachers about the phenomenon of peer bullying. It uses qualitative methods, such as face-to-face interviews and questionnaires, to obtain data. The school administrators and teachers who participated in this study provided answers to questions about bullying prevention. This was done by analyzing responses according to themes found through content analysis and qualitative methods. The interviews revealed that most educators believed bullying was physical, verbal or psychological harassment that peers within a given age group inflicted on each other due to power imbalances. They also believed bullying in schools was caused by the students' temperaments, the environments they grew up in and their family situations. Other causes associated with school bullying included the students' psychological problems, school environments, exposure to social platforms such as TV commercials and the internet and their families' behaviors. Schools encouraged students, parents and teachers to attend seminars about preventing peer bullying. They monitored teachers' behavior in areas where bullying was likely to occur and encouraged victims and bullies to participate in social and cultural activities. School administrators and teachers used interventions such as talking to bullied students, informing their parents and referring bullying students to school committees for discipline.