Bullying in a School Environment
INTRODUCTION
The following article is focused on socio-pathological phenomena, specifically bullying, which occurs quite often in schools. It can occur during the stay at the club, in the dormitory, but also on the street, or cyberbullying is also associated with it, which is also widespread among children and young people. During the months of March and April 2019, a questionnaire was distributed to students at two secondary schools - the Secondary Medical School (number of respondents 86) and the Secondary Vocational School of Pedagogy (number of respondents 59), where we tried to find out the rate of occurrence of bullying, or whether they came into contact with bullying. By subsequent comparison of the results, we drew conclusions about the occurrence of bullying and possible prevention. We will deal with this term also because from day to day bullying as a socio-pathological phenomenon has an increasing tendency, despite the fact that schools hold various talks and lead discussions on this topic. Pupils as well as their parents are informed and familiar with the prevention and solution of bullying of children and pupils in schools and school facilities by means of methodological guidelines, i.e. directive no. 36/2018 issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Slovak Republic, which informs the school director, social pedagogue, prevention coordinator, class teacher and other professional staff about preventive activities.
Why does bullying actually happen, we can say that it is mostly caused by increased aggression that the child takes out on a peer or a younger child. A child knowingly hurts another child with his strength, makes fun of him, makes fun of him, etc. The aggressor may have behavioral problems, he does not have a good relationship with his parents, there are problems at school, in interpersonal relationships, and he exerts his aggression primarily on weaker, younger students. Aggressive behavior can take different forms, e.g. German educator Winkel, (in Határ, 2004), summarized five occurrences of child and youth aggression:
- aggression as a form of play - the child checks his strength, or wants to enjoy victory and therefore looks for a weaker child that he can defeat.- aggression as a defense mechanism* - where the victim defends himself against the attacker, and ultimately the victim can harm the attacker.
- aggression as a reaction of a frustrated individual - in this case, the child feels inferior and seeks compensation for his loss by harming a weaker individual.
- aggression as a form of curiosity - children find out where their boundaries are, what is allowed and what is forbidden. Such a form can result in egoistic enforcement.
- aggression as an inappropriate form of desire for love - the child gets his attention through negative behavior and actions, satisfying his needs, while not being aware of his actions.*
Bullying, as mentioned above, takes different forms, which can affect the mental and physical health of the student. The main goal of the research was to find out the occurrence of bullying and also whether students came into contact with this phenomenon in the school environment at two selected secondary schools.
RESEARCH
A total of 145 respondents were involved in the research, of which 86 ((35) 40.69% girls, (51) 59.30% boys) were from the Secondary Medical School (SZŠ) and 59 (100% girls, 0% boys) from the Secondary Vocational School of Pedagogy (SOŠPg). In the following, we will only list secondary school abbreviations. The research was carried out in the 1st and 2nd years.
At SZŠ, 18.60% of boys and 60.47% of girls encountered bullying, at SOŠPg it was 88.14% of girls. It follows from the data that more girls than boys have encountered bullying.
Table no. 2
The most frequent place where bullying occurs: in SZŠ school 50% and SOŠPg 81%, in the SZŠ club it was just over 4.65% and in SOŠPg 3.39%, on the street 37.21% said from SZŠ and SOŠPg up to 55.36%, in the dormitory SZŠ respondents said 8.14% and SOŠPg 10.17%, cyberbullying also appeared at SZŠ in the proportion of 2.33%, and 24.41% of respondents did not encounter bullying at all. It follows from this that bullying mostly occurs in schools, but also on the street. In question no. 3, respondents could mark several options, therefore the number of respondents differs with the basic sample.
Table no. 3
When answering the question of whether they were personally bullied, the answer was mostly no - 56.98% of SZŠ girls and 15.12% of boys, 72.88% of girls at SOŠPg said they were not bullied. In the previous question no. 2, whether they encountered bullying, they obviously had in mind when answering that it may not have been bullying directly related to them, rather they were like witnesses.
Table no. 4
Physical assault (kicking, rubbing...) was reported by 25 (29.07%) respondents from SZŠ and 20 (33.90%) from SOŠPg, destruction of personal belongings (clothes, school supplies...) from SZŠ was indicated by 14 (16.28%) respondents and from SOŠPg 50 (84.75%), blackmail (financial, psychological - carrying tithes, etc.) from SZŠ 20 (23.26%) respondents, and from SOŠPg 23 (38.99%) respondents, cyberbullying was reported by SZŠ 16 (18.60%) and from SOŠPg 7 (11.86%) respondents, the answer is repeated here again - other, they did not encounter bullying from SZŠ 27 (31.40%) and SOŠPg 10 (16.95%). As we can see from the research, it is clear that students use different forms of bullying, the most frequent answer was physical assault, destruction of personal belongings, but also blackmail. For question no. 5, respondents could give several answers, therefore the number of respondents differs with the basic sample.
Table no. 5
To the question of whether the student had been bullied for a long time, I emphasize that we asked this question on purpose, since bullying is considered repeated harm, the respondents answered as follows: from SZŠ and SOŠPg, the same number of 9 answered, more than 2x in the percentage share of SZŠ (10.47%) respondents, from SOŠPg, the percentage answered 15.25%, it did not happen only once marked the answer of 40 (46.51%) SZŠ respondents and 7 (10.17%) SOŠPg respondents, no, I was not bullied was answered by 37 (43.02%) SZŠ respondents and 43 (72.88%) SOŠPg respondents. Again, it is confirmed to us that the students mostly witnessed bullying, with this question we wanted to confirm the occurrence of bullying in schools, which means that bullying occurs in schools, but to a lesser extent, because 10.47% of SZŠ and 15.25% of SOŠPg students said that they were bullied more than twice.
Table no. 6
In the following question, to whom they would report bullying, the respondents could mark several answers, therefore the number of the research sample is not the same as the number of the basic sample. 47 (54.65%) respondents from SZŠ and 21 (35.59%) respondents from SOŠPg indicated the most answers, did not tell anyone about bullying, a parent or relative would be chosen by 20 (23.26%) respondents from SZŠ and 25 (42.37%) respondents from SOŠPg, 13 (15.12%) respondents from SZŠ and 14 (23.73%) respondents from SOŠPg, 11 (12.79%) respondents from SZŠ and 12 (20.34%) respondents from SOŠPg would say this to a classmate. From the given table, we can see that more than half of the pupils from SZŠ would not tell anyone, and more than half of the respondents from SOŠPg would choose a parent or relative.
Table no. 7
In the following question, whether the respondent has friends, they answered as follows: 79 (91.86%) SZŠ respondents indicated more than 3 friends and 55 (93.22%) SZŠ respondents indicated one friend, 4 (4.65%) SZŠ respondents indicated one friend and 1 (1.70%) SOŠPg respondent indicated, no, the same number of respondents indicated no, and thus in percentage 3.49% of SZŠ respondents indicated and 5.08% of respondents SOŠPg. According to the number of friends, it is not possible to confirm unequivocally whether the respondent is being bullied if he has more or fewer friends, or even none.
Table no. 8
If the respondent found out that someone was being bullied, it was determined who they would report it to: the most respondents indicated that they would tell the aggressor, i.e. the person who is bullying, not to do so 54 (62.79%) SZŠ respondents and only 21 (35.59%) SOPgŠ respondents would report it to the school: 37 (43%) SZŠ respondents, up to 35 (59%) of SOPgŠ respondents would suggest to the bullied person to avoid the aggressor: 13 (15.12%) SZŠ respondents, 5 (8.48%) SOPgŠ respondents, other – 1 (1.16%) SZŠ respondent would use force, i.e. beat the aggressor, but 3 (3.49%) SZŠ respondents and 4 (6.78%) SOPgŠ respondents would tell their parents the aggressor. The overwhelming majority of SZŠ respondents, 62.79%, would solve this situation face to face with the aggressor by telling him not to do it, but 59% of SOPgŠ respondents would report it to the school.
Table no. 9
Our research shows that more girls than boys experience bullying, most bullying happens in schools and on the street. When answering whether the respondents had been bullied, more than half said no, and only a little under 20% said they had been bullied. Bullying is most often manifested in the destruction of personal belongings, up to 84.75% of SOŠPg respondents out of the total number of 59 respondents, but SZŠ reports the most frequent bullying - physical assault in the percentage share of 29.07% out of the total number of 86 respondents. It is clear from the research that pupils use different forms of bullying, and by comparing the answers we can see that different forms of bullying occur at individual schools, specifically, among girls at SOŠPg there is more destruction of personal belongings, and at SZŠ the respondents stated that it was a physical attack.
Recommendations in the prevention of bullying are:
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prevention should be aimed not only at pupils, teachers, but also parents, who receive information at parent meetings. Through a social pedagogue, in the case of another professional pedagogue, participate in discussions, discussions that can be held directly in the school environment, or search for such discussions;
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teachers must be more attentive to students, engage students in class, discuss with students, support their interest in studies - create a positive climate in the classroom;
- use model situations of bullying in classes, where students can assume the role of a victim, then discuss it;
- students who are victims must not be afraid to talk about it at school, at home, or with a friend;
- involve students in activities with the motive of rejecting violence, e.g. creation of bulletin boards that will be visible to everyone;
- to teach students assertive behavior - to be able to accept people as they are, to respect their opinions, beliefs, values, but at the same time not to assert their interests and opinions at the expense of others. Conclusion
The school should create a good, positive school environment for the students, so that they are aware that if a situation arises, the teacher is there for them to help solve the situation. The role of classroom teachers is to be observant and thus be able to detect bullying in time. Through mutual discussion and a good atmosphere in the classroom, the teacher can create the trust and respect of his students, who in turn will trust him.
Prevention of bullying in schools is of primary importance, to discuss with the parents of students - aggressors who provoke younger or physically weaker students, in order to avoid psychological and physical violence and thus a possible tragedy.
Author: Mgr. Miriama Pacnárová, PhD. List of bibliographic references
ĎURKOVIČOVÁ, T. 2003. Aggression and bullying in schools: methodological sheet. Trenčín: Regional Pedagogical-Psychological Counseling. 2003. HATÁR, C. 2004. Terminological knowledge of aggression and aggressive behavior of children. In. Youth and society, Bratislava, 2004, No. 1/2004, pp. 13-20. HUCÍKOVÁ, M. 2004. Behavioral and learning disorders. Update No. 2. Expert in early detection of disorders and consultant in working with problem children and talking to parents. Bratislava: RAABE, 2004. ISBN 80-968117-6.2. PETLÁK, E. 2006. School climate and classroom climate. Bratislava: Iris, 2006. 119 p. ISBN 80-890189-7-1. PIOVARĆIOVÁ, Z. 2014. Problems in behavior. [online]. [cit. 2019-05.15]. Available at: https://www.ppppoprad.sk/ako-zvladnut-problemy-v-spravani.html ŘIČAN, P. 1995. Aggression and bullying among children. Prague: Portal, 95 p. 1995. ISBN 80-7178- 049-9 Directive no. 36/2018 on the prevention and solution of bullying of children and pupils in schools and school facilities. [Online]. Bratislava: MŠVVaŠ SR. Available at: https://www.minedu.sk/smernica-c-362018-k-prevencii-a-rieseniu-sikanovania-deti-a-ziakov-v-skolach-a-skolskych-zariadeniach/