M. Tech. Education / This ethnographic study investigated the nature of bullying in selected primary schools in the Pretoria inner city as experienced by learners, parents, teachers and principals. A review of the existing literature formed the basis for the offered description of the phenomenon. The work examined concise definitions of bullying, including the existence of bullying, the effects of bullying, the perceptions of learners who are bullied, the frequency of bullying, the School Management Team's reaction to incidents of bullying, the school policy on bullying, teachers' experience of bullying of learners, the parents' experiences of bullying of their children and how other countries handle bullying. The research describes various forms of bullying, reasons for bullying, the effects of bullying and measures against bullying.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

A surge of interest on bullying and violence has emerged as precursors for aggression become ominously present on a global level. There is growing evidence of these phenomena among school children· and anecdotal proof of their consequences. Despite frequent reporting of the same in the popular media little empirical research is available in the South African context. More specifically in the discipline of social work, the issue remains largely neglected. Social workers are considered to be well placed in their capacity-building, therapeutic and facilitative roles. If they are to provide holistic and inter-related services to learners both within and outside of the school, it is vital that they become familiar with the dynamics of this public health scourge. The thrust of this effort was to examine the nature and extent of bullying and violence in Durban South high schools, to glean childrens' lived experiences in this regard and to investigate the structural/procedural impediments to systematic, mandatory, school wide responses. A survey was conducted with 251 grade 8 and 9 learners, where quantitative data was obtained on a range of issues relating to the nature and extent of school bullying. Additionally, four key informants were interviewed and two focus groups were conducted with an average of 10 members in each group. Interviews and group sessions allowed for a more spontaneous, meaningful and in-depth account from educators and group members. In this way, contextually and culturally rich information was obtained. Focus groups were deemed to be valuable as learners possessed 'insider' knowledge of the school and shared emotions in a less threatening environment among their peers. The reporting of bullying and violence was concluded to be problematic as current school procedures are ad hoc. The frequency with which bullying occurred was reported as alarmingly high. There was overwhelming support for curriculum changes, the services of a social worker/counsellor and for more stringent punitive measures for bullies. Educators confirmed the need for social services and indicated that the school ethos has deteriorated considerably, with general disregard by learners for authority. Recommendations include the development of an anti-bullying school policy as well as comprehensive schooVcommunity efforts that monitor and address bullying and violence systematically. This study also recommends the integration of social and academic services in promoting learner well being. The recommendations are aimed toward extinguishing any notion that predatory or aggressive behaviour is normal, in the minds of youth. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

This thesis is an inquiry that examines how those who are marked different in school are also marked "wrong" and marginalized and how that marking often leads to bullying. It examines the significance that those markings have on those who are marked, on those who mark and on those who are witnesses. This is an analysis of bullying and a critique of an institution's response to bullying and its deleterious effects. The writing offers a connection between the particular and the universal. It tells of my personal experience while I was a teacher at a small town high school before, during and immediately after a violent incident that resulted in a death, against a backdrop feminist, critical, poststructural and postmodern theory, and academic dialogue that has helped me come to some understanding of the dominant discourses at play within this story. The writing is not merely the mode of telling the writing is the way to understanding, which must always precede the telling. Finally this thesis is a search for a healing home in which home-ness means a place open to being, rather than a place that defines the "right" way of being. / xii, 134 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

<p>Existing situations at various schools, especially in post apartheid South Africa suggest that the education environment for effective teaching and learning is problematic for several reasons namely a lack of safety and security, poor governance and management and a lack of community ownership and partnership. This research however assumed that the implementation of safety related policies and other departmental guidelines is the foundation for effective learning, especially in the Western Cape. The primary aim and objective of this research was to ensure that learning takes place in an environment free from crime, violence, drugs, intimidation and fear. It was an assessment to acquire information from schools and other role-players regarding the status of safety and security in schools and to verify whether crime prevention policies are implemented.</p>

This thesis explores the ways in which a group of boys who belong to gangs enact their masculinity. The focus is on African boys' construction of their masculinities within gang cultures at a primary school in Inanda, Durban. The school is an exclusively African co-educational school and predominantly African teaching staff. Data collection involved qualitative methods that primarily include observation and unstructured interviews. These research tools were used to investigate the interrelatedness between violence, gangs, and masculinities. This study demonstrates that young boys in gangs enact violent masculinities which are bound up with issues of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and context in the making of young gang cultures. The performance of violent gang masculinity produced the exaggerated quality of masculine protest, in which violence is employed as a compensation for perceived weakness. This study reveals that gang of boys are enacting masculinity that is oppositional to school's authority by contravening school rules and regulations in multiple ways. This research has indicated that modes of masculinities are shaped, constrained or enabled by gang cultures. Gang boys acted out their protest masculinity in multiple ways. They are anti-school authority, anti-social and undisciplined. The study also demonstrates that there are many socio-economic and political factors that impact negatively on the school such as unemployment, poverty, and violent gang crime. The social, economic and political contexts are therefore crucially important in understanding a multiplicity of masculine identities amongst gang boys at the school under study. Schooling is an important arena where masculinities are enacted in various forms including violent (gang) masculinities. The overall conclusion stemming from the research project is that attempts to reduce violent gang masculinities in the school need to include a gender strategy that tackles gender inequality. In South Africa this could form part of the Life Skills curriculum. Much greater attention needs to be given, in the life skills curriculum and through the ethos of the school as a whole, to promote gender equality and in particular models of masculine identity not predicated on force and violence. / Thesis (M.Ed.) -University of Natal, Durban, 2004.

The prevalence of gender-based violence in South African schools has been identified by the research and the Department of Education has acknowledged its existence. However, little has been done to alleviate the problem. Female learners are continually victimized by male learners at school. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that explain gender-based violence amongst learners from three secondary schools in the Inanda area. Inanda is a predominantly informal settlement area on the outskirts of Durban, in South Africa. This study has largely focussed on female learners as victims of gender-based violence perpetrated by male learners. Both quantitative and qualitative methods had been adopted through which data was collected. School records were reviewed and one perpetrator and the victim were chosen from each school. The two participants were then, interviewed in order to get both perspectives. The data collected revealed that there are other kinds of gender-based violence besides those that were identified from the records review. The findings from the interviews outlined the factors that explain gender-based violence in schools. In conclusion, some recommendations were made in the light of the findings. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

This study examines the role played by violence in poor academic achievement. Violence perpetrated by the stakeholders, i.e. teachers, pupils, the community, is the main focus of this study. The matric results of the school, over the last six years, are looked into. The observation reveals a constant decline in matric passes. Observations, questionnaires and interviews were the research tools used in this study. Pupils experience a lot of violence at school, perpetrated by teachers and fellow students. Outside the school premises most of the violence is perpetrated by gangs. Boys are more frequently the victims of violence. Girls experience most violence in the home. Pupils believe that violence does not affect their academic work. This unexpected finding can be explained by referring to widespread violence in the area and to violence being common in the recent past. Respondents have experienced violence so much that, to them, it has become a norm. This is why they do not attribute their poor academic performance to violence. Some of the respondents have been exposed to gruesome violence in most cases culminating in maiming and loss of life. Acts of violence, like slapping, sexual harassment and threatening, are not considered to be violence at all. Levels of school violence are escalating, and academic results are declining. This research project suggests that there may be a relationship between these two trends. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This study examines the self-report answers of 27 of the most highly aggressive students from 3 different school sites on lower Vancouver Island through the lens of Johnson and Johnson's (1998) Social Interdependence Theory, in order to understand the impact of competitive, individual and cooperative social conditions on adolescent decision-making about the use of violent and aggressive behaviour in schools. The data analysis in this study is based on a quantitative and qualitative mixed methods approach that is anchored in theories that examine the social conditions of decision-making and subsequent action with respect to moral questions. The study's findings suggest that we should shift our understanding of adolescents who engage in violent and aggressive behaviour, away from deficit-based models that portray such young people as somehow morally delayed and disengaged, or as flawed with respect to character development, and instead pursue an examination of the conditions promote positive moral experience through connectedness and collaboration in our quest to assist non-violent choices.