An Educators Perspective
As a pre-service educator it is extremely important that I detail how bullying is viewed upon through the eyes of an educator, as well as the impacts on the students when behaviours such as bullying and harassment is not being addressed. Parents view educators as the disciplinarians during school hours in which teachers have a duty of care, they are responsible for the safety and well-being of each child. Unfortunately for educators the majority of direct and indirect bullying occurs during this time in which they have to implement teaching and learning strategies to combat against these behaviours. A huge issue rests within the fact that teachers have minimal knowledge in regards to dealing with indirect bullying, as they do not have sufficient supportive school guidelines to deal with the situations. At times teachers can be oblivious to bullying taking place within their classroom, playground or in the form of cyber-bullying, leading to children feeling a lack of teacher support and afraid to report the incidences occurring (Mishna, Pepler & Wiener, 2006).
When bullying continues without any repercussions from educators or the school, the whole school's atmosphere and culture can be negatively affected. As a result, this can impact on student learning and engagement, staff retention and parental confidence in the school and educators, which can eventually lead to:
To avoid the above affects bullying can lead to when not dealt with respectively by educators or the school, teachers can effectively implement precautions and practices to create safe, bully-free zones in their classrooms. These precautions can include teachers:
When bullying continues without any repercussions from educators or the school, the whole school's atmosphere and culture can be negatively affected. As a result, this can impact on student learning and engagement, staff retention and parental confidence in the school and educators, which can eventually lead to:
- The school developing an atmosphere of fear and disrespect
- The students having troubles within the classroom for example, experiencing difficulty learning and retaining knowledge
- Students feeling alone, insecure and scared of their peers
- Students disliking school and failing to attend
- The perception that teachers and staff have little to no control
- Parents feeling a sense that teachers do not care about students well-being and removing their child from school
To avoid the above affects bullying can lead to when not dealt with respectively by educators or the school, teachers can effectively implement precautions and practices to create safe, bully-free zones in their classrooms. These precautions can include teachers:
- Knowing their school and district policies on bullying and adopting them into your classroom roles effectively
- Treating students with respect through getting to know students personally and letting them know that you are available for support at any time
- Implementing classroom activities utilising using books and video clips based upon bullying to assist the class in discussing the impacts of bullying has how issues can be resolved (Frangenheim, 2010).
- Taking immediate action to prevent the bullying from escalating
- Connecting with other colleagues and parents to create a common understanding when it comes to dealing with anti-social behavious, reduces the bullying from continuing outside of school grounds.