Abstract
Worldwide, and in developing countries like South Africa, bullying and violence in schools are a prevalent problem. Negotiating and managing bullying in schools has become progressively challenging for teachers, more so for novice teachers entering the profession. Through semi-structured interviews, this interpretivist qualitative study explores the fears and beliefs of four novice teachers within the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa using social identity theory. Novice teachers attributed their knowledge, worldviews, beliefs, fears and the manner in which they responded to bullying instances to: their biographical backgrounds, their personal beliefs and attitudes, social and contextual factors. They demonstrated an understanding of bullying, and recognised the prevalence and persisting problem of bullying in schools. They recalled from their growing up years how they experienced bullying, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, from their own personal histories, attitudes and beliefs. They expressed fears about not effectively identifying and responding to bullying behaviours. Lastly, teachers associated bullying with an imbalance of power. Although teachers were aware of informal anti-bullying interventions, they stressed the lack of concrete formal intervention strategies to reduce and stop bullying. The teachers recommended a collaborative and democratic process of all stakeholders deciding policies and crafting customised practical intervention strategies, rather than a generic approach to eliminating bullying and violence in schools.
Highlights
The prevalence of bullying is increasing, and it is projected that 246 million children experience bullying in some way or the other (UNESCO, 2017)
Professor Wayne Hugo accentuates that almost 80 % of South African children are bullied on their way to and from school and at school, but many are bullied by teachers
A report by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) (2008 cited in Mncube & Harber, 2013) confirmed that only 23 % of South African learners felt safe at school compared to Sweden, Denmark and Norway where learners were the safest, with 70% stating they felt safe at school (Mncube & Harber, 2013)
Summary
The prevalence of bullying is increasing, and it is projected that 246 million children experience bullying in some way or the other (UNESCO, 2017). Professor Wayne Hugo (cited in Wolhuter, 2017) accentuates that almost 80 % of South African children are bullied on their way to and from school and at school, but many are bullied by teachers. He further emphasised that private schools showed fewer incidences of bullying, implying that parents are buying better marks and their children’s safety by sending them to private schools. In South Africa, the widespread scourge of bullying and its associated school violence has become a prevalent phenomenon, with extensive immediate and long-term effects for the victims, bullies, bystanders, and teachers, in their efforts to detect and respond to bullying in schools (Bradshaw, 2015; Mncube & Harber, 2013; UNESCO, 2017)
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