Exploring Primary School Staff Responses to Student Reports of Bullying in Australia: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

AbstractBullying behaviour often increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence. While interventions to address bullying behaviour typically encourage students to report bullying incidents to school staff, students are often reluctant to report incidents for fear it will worsen their situation or because they lack confidence in a staff members’ ability to intervene effectively. This study explores school staff responses to student reports of bullying behaviour. School staff were recruited from Catholic and Independent schools in Perth, Western Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with school staff (n = 19) working with students in grades four to six (approximately 8–12 years). A thematic analysis of the data was undertaken with the assistance of qualitative data analysis software NVivo. Staff reported a variety of responses to student reports of bullying incidents. Responses involved bullying targets, bullying perpetrators and the school community. School and individual factors found to influence staff responses included life experiences, adequate time to deal with bullying and the influence of colleagues. Suggested strategies to improve staff responses were clear school policies and procedures, scheduled times to deal with student reports, databases to record bullying incidents and professional development for school staff.