Bullying has long-term negative effects on the mental health and wellbeing of everyone involved. School-wide interventions have been successful in some contexts, but they often require significant institutional and financial resources. Empathy is comprised of a cognitive component (perspective taking) and an affective component (empathic concern), both of which may be necessary for prosocial behavior. According to relational frame theory (RFT), empathy involves a transformation of stimulus functions across deictic relations (I-YOU, HERE-THERE, NOW-THEN), which also requires psychological willingness (i.e., psychological flexibility). The present study investigated this theoretical model of empathy based on RFT and the role of this model in middle school bullying. Results tentatively support this model by demonstrating two ways in which psychological flexibility moderates the relationship between deictic framing ability and empathy. The utility of deictic framing and psychological flexibility in predicting bullying behaviors was also examined. Deictic framing ability and psychological flexibility were expected to negatively predict bullying behaviors, and psychological flexibility was expected to moderate the relationship between deictic framing ability and relational bullying in particular. Additional research questions explored the roles of deictic framing and psychological flexibility in the relationship between relational bullying and other relevant psychological determinants: (a) parental discord, (b) social anxiety, and (c) social roles. The results of this study were insufficient to apply this model to bullying behaviors. Methodological and statistical limitations are discussed in depth, and future directions to improve on this study and clarify these relationships are emphasized.

School bullying is becoming a problem throughout the world. It is deemed necessary that schools become safer environments for teaching and learning to take place. This study focused specifically on the impact of bullying, educationally and psychologically, on primary school learners. In the literature review conducted, research studies showed that learners were clearly affected by bullying. An empirical investigation, which included four individual sessions and a focus group session, was undertaken to determine what the effects of bullying were on the victims. Transcriptions were made of all the interviews and the data was then analysed to determine what the main themes were. The investigation concluded that bullying does affect learners educationally and psychologically. Based on the results, guidelines were provided for schools, parents, educators and the Department of Education. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

The master's thesis is devoted to bullying prevention with a focus on primary school pupils. It has both theoretical and empirical character. The theoretical part provides a deeper insight into the issue of bullying clarifies relationships among its actors and the displays of bullying while focusing on types of pupils'aggression. It further provides knowledge of developmental psychology. The bullying prevention part is divided into a sub-part, which teachers can use at class level, and a sub-part, which schools implement at the level of school education programme. At the end the preventive programmes for primary school pupils and organizations which provide primary prevention are described. The empirical part comprises a research conducted using Korthagen's "Spiral of Professional Development". A "Cats'Garden" preventive programme was implemented in the second grade classes of a primary school. After the implementation, a detailed reflection was carried out, in which the basic aspects were evaluated and the alternative options were suggested. Based on the evaluation, a new anti-bullying programme was developed and tested on the pupils. The research used observation methods, interviews and product analysis. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme considering...

School bullying is becoming a problem throughout the world. It is deemed necessary that schools become safer environments for teaching and learning to take place. This study focused specifically on the impact of bullying, educationally and psychologically, on primary school learners. In the literature review conducted, research studies showed that learners were clearly affected by bullying. An empirical investigation, which included four individual sessions and a focus group session, was undertaken to determine what the effects of bullying were on the victims. Transcriptions were made of all the interviews and the data was then analysed to determine what the main themes were. The investigation concluded that bullying does affect learners educationally and psychologically. Based on the results, guidelines were provided for schools, parents, educators and the Department of Education. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

In my diploma thesis I analysed the success of the implementation of the policy on the prevention and solution of bullying at primary schools in the Czech Republic. I was based on the theory of implementation and street level bureaucracy. The hypothesis for the success of the implementation of this policy is the acceptance of schools, teachers, and the Director of the schools. To analyze the success of the implementation of the policy on the prevention and solution of bullying, I took advantage of the available professional literature, I've analyzed the current documents, which shall submit to the Ministry of Education (for example Methodological guideline for the prevention and solution of bullying), I have used the knowledge from the survey, focus groups and regular meetings of Directors, which realizes the company SCIO. I graduated five structured interviews with Directors of elementary schools. In the next section, I focused on the quantitative research, survey for the Director of elementary schools. I focused on the Director of elementary schools, because they are the key actors for the implementation of educational policies and have enough information about the everyday school practice. The first section of the quantitative research deals with the education of teachers in schools the issue of...

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.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:33:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosana Nogueira.pdf: 1220513 bytes, checksum: dfc64676c5696d8e9c2cf25a8cdff882 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-07-30 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The objective of this study was to analyze and to reflect on the issue of violence in schools and youth , leading mainly to bullying in school, according to middle class adolescents and parts of the elites in two schools, a public one and a private one, in the city of São Paulo. Based on the social sciences of the ideas of Norbert Elias (1996) taken as reference regarding the civilized process, considering minor violence and aggressions that are always happening, the violation of the codes of good manners or the established order, the incivility, so that it is possible to differ what a criminal or delinquent behaviors are, in Tarde (1986) the concept of purely spiritual collective and acquiescent and passive collective among others. The principal aim of this project is to reflect how the young see violence among colleagues and the bullying that happens in the school. Our source of data confines in the interviews given by four 8th graded pupils, two boys and two girls of each school, teachers, some members of the pedagogical team, other school members, some observations and documents. In order to point out the concerned people in the project, its aim was based on the teenager student, his school, his family and his relationships with classmates and adults inside the school and how he attributes the phenomenon of violence. It was taken for granted that violence occurred between pairs in both schools, the concerned people seen as attackers and attacked with physical violence such as fights, depredations, assaults, and also not physical violence such as offences, insults, discriminations, segregations and humiliations and the fact that they are unaware of what school bullying is. Teachers, administrative staff and minders of the schools mentioned above are rather worried with indiscipline cases in the school, the lack of discipline among students, than with the violence cases among colleagues and school bullying among these young people. The most important finding observed in both schools is that social actions rather affect the pedagogical side, leaving the educative proposal behind. When this gap happens, the school can not reproduce good models of social values, on the other hand, it lets discrimination and prejudice invade and settle down inside the school. The lack of social actions and the environment itself promote room allowing students to have experiences such as violence. Although, there are similarities and differences in both schools, the critical single point is the bullying / O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar e refletir sobre a temática violências nas escolas e juventude , incidindo principalmente sobre o bullying escolar, sob a ótica de adolescentes de classes médias e de segmentos de elites, em duas escolas, sendo uma pública e outra privada na cidade de São Paulo. Com base nas ciências sociais, buscouse como referência as idéias de Norbert Elias (1996) a respeito do processo civilizador, quando denomina as pequenas violências ou as pequenas agressões do cotidiano que se repetem sem parar, a transgressão dos códigos de boas maneiras ou da ordem estabelecida, de incivilidades, para efeito de distinção das condutas criminosas ou delinqüentes; em Tarde (1986) o conceito de coletividade puramente espiritual e coletividade amorfa e passiva entre outros. A questão central que pautou este trabalho é a reflexão sobre a representação que os jovens têm sobre a violência entre colegas e a ocorrência do bullying escolar. Nossa fonte de dados circunscreve-se às entrevistas realizadas com quatro alunos de oitavas séries, sendo dois meninos e duas meninas de cada escola, professores, equipe técnico-pedagógica e agentes escolares; observações e consulta à documentação. Com intuito de situar os atores envolvidos, o trabalho colocou como uma de suas metas a investigação do aluno adolescente, a sua escola, a sua família e a suas relações com os colegas e como os adultos na sua vida escolar e os sentidos que eles atribuem ao fenômeno da violência. Partiu-se do pressuposto de que ambas as escolas apresentam práticas de violência entre pares; os atores envolvidos nas condições de agressores, de agredidos ou de agressores/ agredidos entendem por violência física: as brigas, depredações, agressões físicas e por violência não física: ofensas verbais, institucionais, discriminações, segregações e humilhações e desconhecem o que seja bullying nas escolas e que os professores, equipe técnico-administrativa e inspetores estão mais preocupados nas escolas investigadas, com os casos de indisciplina na escola, sendo a falta de disciplina entre alunos, do que com os casos de violência entre pares e o bullying escolar independe de questões de gênero, estando presente tanto entre as jovens como entre os jovens. Os principais achados possibilitaram observar que nas duas escolas investigadas, as ações socializadoras incidem muito mais sobre o aspecto pedagógico, o que deixa em segundo plano a proposta educativa. Onde se verifica essa ausência, a escola não funciona como retradutora dos valores sociais e termina por permitir que ideais de discriminação e preconceito, por exemplo, invadam e se estabeleçam no espaço escolar. A falta de alcance da ação socializadora e mesmo o ambiente relacional promovem o aparecimento de brechas que permitem aos alunos a construção de experiências escolares, dentre elas, a experiência da violência. As duas escolas apresentam semelhanças e diferenças, entretanto, em todo o caminho percorrido, observou-se que o ponto decisivo de convergência é a presença do bullying

Bullying has become a serious concern in many American public middle schools in recent years. Inadequate professional development (PD) in bullying prevention and response strategies has compounded this problem. The overarching purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the growing problem of school bullying. Bronfenbrenner's socioecological theory, which states that environment and relationships influence student behavior, served as the conceptual framework for this qualitative study. Guiding research questions, grounded in socioecological theory, were used to examine middle school teachers' views of PD and their perceived skills in responding to or preventing bullying. Through purposeful sampling, 8 middle school teachers in a community in rural Alabama were interviewed over a 3-week period. Each had at least 1 year of teaching experience in the local rural setting. To authenticate study findings, discipline referrals and state incident reports spanning the 2 previous years were assessed for teacher management of bullying. Data were analyzed using open coding to identify and categorize the patterns and themes that emerged. Results indicated that the teachers perceived that PD would give them the strategies to recognize and manage incidents of school bullying. These results supported and informed the PD project for middle school teachers. This study contributes to social change by providing professional development that will help teachers to either prevent or manage school bullying appropriately, a benefit to children and communities.

Bullying has become a serious concern in many American public middle schools in recent years. Inadequate professional development (PD) in bullying prevention and response strategies has compounded this problem. The overarching purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the growing problem of school bullying. Bronfenbrenner's socioecological theory, which states that environment and relationships influence student behavior, served as the conceptual framework for this qualitative study. Guiding research questions, grounded in socioecological theory, were used to examine middle school teachers' views of PD and their perceived skills in responding to or preventing bullying. Through purposeful sampling, 8 middle school teachers in a community in rural Alabama were interviewed over a 3-week period. Each had at least 1 year of teaching experience in the local rural setting. To authenticate study findings, discipline referrals and state incident reports spanning the 2 previous years were assessed for teacher management of bullying. Data were analyzed using open coding to identify and categorize the patterns and themes that emerged. Results indicated that the teachers perceived that PD would give them the strategies to recognize and manage incidents of school bullying. These results supported and informed the PD project for middle school teachers. This study contributes to social change by providing professional development that will help teachers to either prevent or manage school bullying appropriately, a benefit to children and communities.

The diploma thesis deals with parents view on the issue of bullying. Special attention is specifically paid to parents of children, having real experience with bullying. First is defined concept of bullying in the theoretical part of dissertation. Another chapter deals with the main protagonists of bullying and special attention is paid to the causes leading to the bullying occurrence. There are also taken into account warning signals of the victims and aggressors, which can be recognized and can warn parents and teachers. Finally there is a part concerning to the solution of this big problem both at school and at home. The theoretic part also discusses the possible consequences, that the problem is ignored. Last chapter is about the prevention at school and at home. The main focus of the research part is to find out, how parents of the bullied children look at this problematics. Quality research based on semi-structured interviews has shown that most respondents didn´t note warning signs. It can be due to the fact, that parents don´t have enough time for children at the present time and don´t also pay them enough attention. They learned about the bullying problem from other sources and they began more interested in communication with children after discovering of problems. They argue for opinion, that family don´t have an impact on bullying and they suppose the main reason is the temperament of the child. The research has also shown parents dissatisfaction with access of schools to this problem.