TEACHERS VIEWS ON BULLYING - DEFINITIONS, ATTITUDES AND ABILITY TO COPE

Background. Teachers play a crucial role in preventing and managing th e widespread problem of bullying. Despite this, scant attention has be en paid to their views on this type of problem. Aims. To determine (i) what behaviours teachers regard as bullying; (ii) teachers' attitudes towards bullying, bullies and victims; (iii) teachers' self-beliefs a bout their ability to deal with bullying and their need for training; (iv) teachers' views of their responsibility for bullying in various l ocations; (v) the impact of length of service on attitudes and perceiv ed ability to cope with bullying. Sample. Pre-, infant, junior, and se condary school teachers (N=138) from schools selected on a convenience basis. Age range 19 to 57 years (mean = 35.8), length of teaching exp erience range one to 38 years (mean = 12.2 years). Methods. Standardis ed questionnaire completed and returned within a one-week period. Resu lts. Teachers viewed a wide range of behaviours as bullying, but signi ficantly more agreed that some items (e.g., 'Threatening people verbal ly') were bullying than agreed others were (e.g., 'Leaving people out' ). Teachers expressed generally negative attitudes towards bullying an d bullies, and were generally sympathetic towards victims, although sy mpathy diminished with increasing length of service. Teachers, regardl ess of length of service, were not confident in their ability to deal with bullying and 87 per cent wanted more training. Significantly more teachers felt responsible for preventing bullying in the classroom an d playground than outside of school. Conclusion. School psychologists must consider teachers' views about many aspects of the problem of bul lying if they are to devise optimum strategies for tackling it.