Bullying Is an Unacceptable but Real Problem

INTRODUCTION

It is overwhelming and devastating for any parent to see fear in their child as a result of abuse in school because it affects the development and learning which robs the child of self-esteem and trust in facing others and developing as a learner. The idea of bullying has gradually developed over some time and is now not only limited to the schoolyard or working workplace. Marshall, (2012) on her paper cited and outlined that Research has found that bullying results in various negative consequences for pupils involved (i.

e. bullies, victims, bully-victims, and bystanders), including short to long term behavioral (i.e., Nansel et al., 2001), physical (i.e., Srabstein & Piazza, 2008), social-emotional (i.e., Craig et al., 2009) and mental health issues (i.e., Gladstone, Parker, & Malhi, 2006).

Although there is no observation on the concept of bullying, the literature focuses on several key attributes of bullying, including ‘the intentional expectation of hurting other people; the repetition of the behavior of bullying for some time; as well as the inequality of authority to a point which the victim becomes traumatized ‘ (Cowie and Jennifer, 2008:1).

Bullying is not a new novel from this century but a reality that has been going on since history was published (Bolton, 2015:12). The purpose behind this study is to build up knowledge on mistreatment to the depth of olden understanding and to broaden the perceptions of school-based bullying and the effectiveness of prevention initiatives.

Initially, the report will emphasize how the definition of the term ‘bullying’ has changed over the years and will focus on three different forms of bullying; cyberbullying, direct bullying, and indirect bullying and.

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The study would, however, examine the social impacts of bullying, especially in the setting up of schools and the implementation of safe and effective initiatives.

 DEFINITION OF CONCEPT

1.  BULLYING – Bullying is defined as the deliberate use of power, aggression, intimidation, abusive behavior to manipulate and influence others (Allison et al, 2014).
2.  SCHOOL – A school is an educational institute intended to provide educational opportunities and learning experiences for the training of learners (or ‘students’) under the supervision of educators( Esteban,2019)

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Bullying as a learning barrier is an unacceptable but real problem that may arise in any education institute, whether verbal, physical, or electronic, offensive, intimidating, or deliberately harmful towards others (Lee, 2016:43). (Lancaster, 2013:23) proposes that bullying is the most important problem in school, putting it higher than the shortage of bathroom facilities, hot tap water, and late-coming staff. Not only is bullying a new up headline as the most problematic matter affecting our school and learner performance, but significantly more individuals are recognizing it as a concern (Wakefield, 2013:56).

Today, bullying is seen in a rather special manner, as compared to it in the old days, the word is characterized by the big problems it poses (Olweus, 2007:14). Although with the number of strategies and methods available to handle and track bullying, the problem continues in classrooms. Significant work has already been done on the implementation of effective measures to handle violence in South African schools, and no study has been performed in this manner.

Main Questions

How is bullying a learning barrier in schools?

Sub-Questions

The control of the bullying of learners poses the following questions:

•  What are the factors of intimidation among school learners?
•  What types of bullying of learners are occurring at schools?
•  What approaches, in particular, are being applied when dealing with learner bullying in schools?

 AIM OF RESEARCH

Studying the handling of bullying of learners in classrooms.

 Objectives

The objectives of this research are to determine follows;

• Experiences of teachers and learners towards bullying
• Causes of learners to be bully others in the classroom
• Forms of learner bullying in the classroom

LITERATURE STUDY

The theoretical framework

The theoretical framework to be used in this study is the social-learning theory. Social learning theory relates improvements like personality and individual behavior to external factors and cognitive behaviors such as the preference of action, exposure to examples, external reinforcement and discipline, basic expectations of moral conduct, societal beliefs, self-regulation skill, basic and group interests, and importance associated with a given task.. (Bandura, 2011:56).

Literature study involves a search and study of current writings on the problem understudying (Bless & Higson-Smith, 2013:49). It is aimed at providing a condensed review of the following: the definition of bullying, forms of bullying, and causes. Literature sources related to the problem under investigation will be reviewed, as well as possible remedies and solutions to the problem. The researcher will use government documents, journals, books, and previous researches regarding the problem of studying.

What is bullying?

Bullying is defined as the deliberate use of power, aggression, intimidation, abusive behavior to manipulate and influence others (Allison et al, 2014) Behavior needs to be repetitive and routine, which is driven by various qualities which patterns that are necessary to control improvement in the processes. There are many types of bullying, including but not restricted to emotional bullying, intimidation, threats, physical manipulation, and aggressive behavior.

Types of bullying?

There are many types of abuse, varying from one-on-one intimidation to attacking many people. It is these qualities that make it important to evaluate the effect of bullying and to identify the contributing factors leading to bullying in the community; particularly for young children in primary schools, here are some of the ways that bullying could occur.

Physical bullying

This is the primary mode of abuse that is followed by violence and threats when one is intimidated at school (Smith et al, 2016). Physical abuse has a direct emotional effect on the child, causing schools and the learning environment unsafe, thus affecting the growth of the child.

Verbal bullying

This is a kind of harassment that includes: intimidation, name-calling, racial comments, and threats. This type of harassment is dangerous even if it is encouraged by those inside the school system (Burger et al, 2015). Verbal abuse is more morally compelling to the perpetrator because it is not conducted by one, but by others including their accomplices and witnesses.

Cyberbullying

It is a modern form of abuse in which the victims use the Web to distribute rumors and intimidate people in school. The rise of the number of learners who own gadgets indicates that the level of abuse remains very successful in doing a great deal of damage to the individual due to the existence of the rumors circulated (Kowalski et al, 2014).

Causes of bullying

Several possible concerns have been identified which add to the problems of bullying.

Family factors

According to Bronfenbrenner’s idea, the family is a micro-system that influences the immediate behavioral patterns followed by a child. Children learn from watching and imitating those within the community, as a direct result of which the family molds the psychological and behavioral patterns of a person.

School factors

The social context and supervision at school have been shown to play a significant role in the intensity and frequency of the problem of bullying. Although school personnel does not influence individual and family factors, bullying problems can be considerably reduced in seriousness by close supervision, involvement.

Consequences of bullying

One of the key consequences of bullying is that it decreases the degree of self-esteem and confidence among children. Self-esteem and confidence are central to inspiring people to achieve and creating the right therapeutic strategies for involving others in the community (Golmaryami et al, 2014). The victims are often morally fragmented and find it impossible to develop long-term interactions with those in society. This is a big concern because victims are cheated on their natural bravery and desire to connect with those in the community. It contributes to shyness and lack of good character development for a person whose unique characteristics have been drastically diminished by bullying.

Children are more prone to become introverts because they feel alone and excluded within society. We lack the vital standards of endurance and professional behavior that are essential to the creation of the appropriate relational frameworks and approaches required to implement progress appropriately.

Victims are also skeptical and cautious of those in community and experience confidence problems when they get older which delays their growth (Fahie and Devine, 2014). Bullying thus negatively affects the emotional and social aspects of victims within the community, which may be problematic in years ahead.

5.6 Strategies on how to manage bullying behavior

Schools can work actively to mitigate bullying by creating a healthy and inclusive environment, and a well-established system involving parents, students, and community involvement can dramatically reduce bullying (Olweus, 2011:84). He also suggests the introduction of such group learning exercises in the school, the teaching of social skills, and the establishment of a board of staff members to take the lead in the adoption of the program.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design

A qualitative design will be used as a case study approach would be included in this research. A qualitative study intends to observe factors that have an impact on the lived reality of people or groups in a specific sociocultural context, studies strongly rooted in a methodological school of thought are delicately textured and straightforward, producing a much higher quality result (Milles & Birks, 2014:45). Miles and Birks (2014:45) describe a case study method as an exploratory type of research, offering an in-depth view of a study unit that may be an individual, a community, an institution, or a social context.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE RESEARCH

The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of bullying as a learning barrier in terms of past experiences, and It seeks to expand the understanding of school-based bullying and the success of preventive programs. The research will lead to the approaches that schools should follow to tackle the problem of learners bullied in schools. Because learning is to take place in a healthy and organized setting, the measure that will be implemented in this proposed research must lead to the development of such an environment.

Table of Contents

1. Roser, Max; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban (2019). ‘Primary and Secondary Education’. Our World in Data. Retrieved 24 October 2019.