Abstract
In Jamaica research conducted revealed that 70% of the participants reported being bullied with more girls than boys (PSearch Associates Company Ltd., 2015). The purpose of this research is to create awareness and identify strategies towards a change in attitude regarding bullying, by using workshops with grade seven students at an all-girls school in Kingston, Jamaica. Workshop is “an educational method” which “provides learners with an opportunity to exchange information, practice skills and receive feedback” (Steinert & Ouellet, 2012: p. 3). The sample population consisted of four students and two Guidance Counsellors. Action Research methodology was used to decide whether or not workshops can be used to create awareness of bullying among grade seven students and determine to what extent can workshops increase awareness and change in attitude and behaviour towards bullying. Focus Group, and Qualitative approach using Questionnaires and Interviews were used to collect the data. The findings revealed that there was an increase in knowledge among the students in the areas of their understanding of bullying, the reason behind children being bullied, the impact on the victim and strategies in addressing and preventing bullying.
Highlights
Seminal literature informs that Jerome Bruner, one of the proponents of Constructivism Theory purports that “learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon existing knowledge” (Bruner, 1960)
All the student participants reported that they have experienced bullying mostly physical, and the students and Guidance Counsellors shared that physical, verbal, emotional and relational bullying exist within their school the main type experienced by students there is cyberbullying
All the participants believe that bullying is a problem within the school (PSearch Associates Company Ltd., 2015) and shared that the victims of bullying sometimes fight, gets withdrawn and self-mutilate and that the students in the upper grade bullies those in the lower grade and Schneider et al (2012) revealed same
Summary
The phenomenon of bullying in schools is a universal malady which if not addressed successfully can result in a populace demonstrating psychological, emotional, physical and social dysfunctionality which can last for over a prolonged. Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that is carried out intentionally and repeatedly to harm another party who is physically or psychologically less powerful (Olweus, 2010 as cited in Mok et al, 2014). There are different types of bullying such as physical (hitting, kicking pushing), verbal (teasing, name calling), relational aggression (rumour spreading, exclusion, coercion), damage to property (taking lunches, destroying school books), cyberbullying (textmessage, email and social media harassment) (Migliaccio & Raskauskas, 2013) and extortion (PSearch Associates Company Ltd., 2015). Bullying can occur at any location such as in the classroom, the playfield, school bathroom and the lunch area
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