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Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences

Thesis (MEd(Psych) --Stellenbosch University, 2011.

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Main Author: Kruger, Martha Margaretha
Other Authors: Swart, Estelle
Format: Thesis
Language:en_ZA
Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2011
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kruger, Martha Margaretha
author2 Swart, Estelle
author_browse Kruger, Martha Margaretha
Swart, Estelle
author_facet Swart, Estelle
Kruger, Martha Margaretha
author_sort Kruger, Martha Margaretha
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv Stellenbosch University
description Thesis (MEd(Psych) --Stellenbosch University, 2011.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/17929
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language en_ZA
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:43:16.997Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2011
publishDateRange 2011
publishDateSort 2011
publisher Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
publisherStr Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/17929 Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences Kruger, Martha Margaretha Swart, Estelle Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology. Teachers' experiences and perspectives Cyberbullying in school -- Prevention High school teachers -- Training of Workplace bullying Bullying behaviour Theses -- Educational psychology Dissertations -- Educational psychology Aggressiveness in adolescence -- Management Bullying in school -- Prevention Educational Psychology Thesis (MEd(Psych) --Stellenbosch University, 2011. ENGLISH 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. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Afknouery word beskou as ‘n deurlopende probleem in hoërskole en onderwysers moet die gevolge daarvan daagliks hanteer. Onderwysers moet nie net die komplekse dinamiek van afknouery ontrafel nie, maar worstel ook met ‘n skoolklimaat en -kultuur wat nie toepaslik is om afknouery te bekamp nie. In Suid-Afrika is daar unieke kontekstuele faktore wat ‘n invloed het op hoe onderwysers afknouery hanteer. Dit sluit onder andere in die geweld wat oorvloei vanuit die gemeenskap na die skool, verhoogde administratiewe werklading asook beperkte ondersteuning van die skool se bestuurspan, ouers en die onderwysowerhede. Daarom speel onderwysers se vermoëns om afknouery te konseptualiseer, insidente van afknouery te herken en daarop te reageer, asook hulle kennis van afknougedrag ‘n groot impak op anti-afknouery strategieë. Hierdie studie word gekonseptualiseer vanuit ‘n sosiaal-konstruktiwistiese en bioekologiese perspektief. ‘n sosiale konteksperspektief beklemtoon die interaksies tussen individue en die sisteme wat uiteengesit is in die bio-ekologiese model. Die doel van hierdie studie was nie om die “waarheid” oor afknouery in die skool te openbaar nie. Dit was eerder om die deelnemers se perspektief in diepte te analiseer en beskryf. ‘n Kwalitatiewe, interpretivistiese navorsingsbenadering is daarom gevolg. ‘n Doelgerigte steekproef is gebruik om potensiële deelnemers te identifiseer en hulle is gevra om vrywillig deel te neem aan die studie. Data is gegenereer deur semi-gestruktureerde individuele en fokusgroeponderhoude. Verder is die konstante vergelykende metode gebruik om die data te analiseer. Die navorsingsbevindinge het aangedui dat die onderwysers ‘n wye verskeidenheid afknougedrag van diverse groepe en individue binne en buite die skoolterrein ervaar. Die onderwysers het verskeie faktore identifiseer wat afknouery moontlik instandhou en het die moontlike gevolge van afknouery uitgelig. Laastens het die deelnemers kennis oor hulle onderwyspraktyke gedeel en voorstelle gemaak oor hoe om afknouery meer effektief in hul skoolgemeenskap te hanteer. Masters 2011-11-23T14:41:00Z 2011-12-05T13:12:17Z 2011-11-23T14:41:00Z 2011-12-05T13:12:17Z 2011-12 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17929 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xiv, 190 : ill. application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
spellingShingle Teachers' experiences and perspectives
Cyberbullying in school -- Prevention
High school teachers -- Training of
Workplace bullying
Bullying behaviour
Theses -- Educational psychology
Dissertations -- Educational psychology
Aggressiveness in adolescence -- Management
Bullying in school -- Prevention
Educational Psychology
Kruger, Martha Margaretha
Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title_full Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title_fullStr Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title_full_unstemmed Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title_short Bullying in secondary schools : teachers' perspectives and experiences
title_sort bullying in secondary schools teachers perspectives and experiences
topic Teachers' experiences and perspectives
Cyberbullying in school -- Prevention
High school teachers -- Training of
Workplace bullying
Bullying behaviour
Theses -- Educational psychology
Dissertations -- Educational psychology
Aggressiveness in adolescence -- Management
Bullying in school -- Prevention
Educational Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17929
work_keys_str_mv AT krugermarthamargaretha bullyinginsecondaryschoolsteachersperspectivesandexperiences