Are We Talking about the Same Thing? A Survey of Preschool Workers’ Attitudes and Beliefs about Bullying

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to examine the attitudes and beliefs of preschool workers with respect to the phenomenon of bullying in preschool. Participants comprised 694 employees in private and municipality run preschools who responded to an internet-based survey in Norway. The largest group of participants in the study were qualified preschool teachers with at least 3 years of tertiary education (45.4%). The survey instrument included approximately 25 questions with 90 underlying items and examined attitudes towards bullying and the children involved, definitional aspects of bullying, and professional experience with the phenomenon. Multiple items were combined into single measures when theoretical justification and internal reliability (i.e. Cronbach's alpha) were acceptable. Data analysis was based on a straightforward approach using mainly descriptive statistics. We found strong agreement among participants that practitioners believe that bullying occurs among young children in this context. Many preschool workers (42%) indicated that children as young as 1–2 years of age are capable of bullying. However, responses suggest that participants’ understanding of bullying is not congruent with established definitions in the literature, namely related to the areas of intentionality, chronicity, and objectivity. Overall, participants did not hold negative or devaluing attitudes towards children involved in bullying or the need to address this issue. These findings are positive given that professionals’ beliefs and attitudes about bullying are likely to influence their willingness and ability to address incidences of bullying in the preschool context.