Conceptualising and navigating bullying in English secondary schools: a figurational analysis of power imbalances in physical education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on how secondary school pupils and teachers conceptualise bullying and how pupils navigate bullying within physical education (PE). This ethnographic case study presents findings from participant observations, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Applying figurational sociology, power imbalances central to bullying within the PE figuration are analysed. Elias and Scotson’s [(1994). The established and the outsiders. Sage. (Original work published 1965)] model of established–outsider relations is applied to demonstrate how peer commentary proved an effective power resource that some sporty pupils used to marginalise and exclude perceived less sporty peers. Elias’s [(2001). The society of individuals. Bloomsbury] personal pronoun model is also utilised to analyse how fear, stigmatisation, and identity self-preservation underpinned a culture of silence in reporting bullying. Throughout our results and discussion, we provided much-needed empirically and theoretically informed insights into the gendered nuances, and similarities, in boys’ and girls’ experiences of bullying in PE. Finally, we propose a more negotiated PE-specific code of conduct may be more beneficial.