Introduction
Bullying is a social phenomenon that has been in existent over the past few decades and has elicited numerous and widespread studies into it and its relationship to class participation. Bullying takes place within the setup of a learning institution. Its relations to participation in classes can be closely related or linked to 1) self-estimated behavior in bullying situations, 2) social acceptance and social rejection, and 3) belongingness to one of the five sociometric status groups (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average). The intention by one child to hurt the feelings of a fellow child is bullying. This sociometric status has been closely found through numerous studies to be closely linked to the participation of children in the class (Morcom & MacCallum 2008).
It is common to see teachers avoiding or being reluctant to look into problems that are not related to academics such as bullying among their students, despite there being daily academic accomplishment evaluation for students. These kinds of incidents and cases are usually thought to be the work of trained psychologists. One in ten school children are victims of bullies and 1 to 4 is involved in bullying. Research shows that boys are more into this than girls. Participation in a class of any victim of bullying is greatly hindered as they end up suffering from low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, insecurity, and withdrawal. But there are certain aspects that cannot be classified as bullying within the classroom setup (Thunfors, and Cornell, 2008). These include friendly joking and arguing. Bullies are usually either seeking revenge or fulfilling a personal vendetta against their victims and are usually driven with an urge to seem stronger and superior especially in cases where they are underperformers in class (Juvonen et al 2008).
Perceptions that teachers hold about victims of bullying
Though there are numerous studies and researches on bullying and its impact or relationship to class participation, not all are on the same page. Different views seem to be emerging on how bullies adjust in the classroom. Some argue that these bullies are neither insecure nor anxious under their “tough surface” and might be thinking of themselves in positive ways (Larson, 2008). On the other hand, others argue that the effects suffered by the victims of bullies are equally evident in the bullies themselves. Maybe in the future, the studies carried out may lead to a more definitive difference between the types of bullies and maybe shed light on the controversies brought out by bully behavior. Nevertheless, there is one aspect that seems not to be in contention, which is that bullies are usually highly maladjusted – more so than children who are only victimized (Glew et al 2008).
To fully understand and appreciate the reasons behind children who are bullies in school and why they succeed or fail to succeed in the classroom, necessitates a comprehensive interpretation of, or belief/opinion based on an interpretation of or inference of the ways which teachers are able to build unquestionable relationships with their students. In addition to the varied social and academic support systems they are able to supply their students with, or be a source of something needed or wanted by their students (Morcom & MacCallum, 2009). All this is done within the circumstances or events that form the environment within which the relationships created exist or take place. A very vital area of this understanding is based on the understanding that another thing will also occur or be done to shore up the support systems that balance (or counter) the effect of something on a person, thing, or event. This may due to the probably more prevailing relationships between students and their parents and also between themselves (Yahaya, Ramli, Hashim, and Ibrahim2009).
Teachers and students alike agree that bullying should not be encouraged in school and that every measure should be taken to avert it at all costs. Studies indicate that over ninety percent see the need of cooperation between students and teachers (school administrations). This clearly shows that teacher’s perception towards discouragement of bullying is strongly positive. Teachers face a myriad of social and academic challenges within the classroom setup in trying to employ students to embrace positive classroom life aspects (Horne, Bartolomucci and Newman-Carlson. 2003).
Teachers have a perception that the chances victims of bullying would experience the same victimization is very high especially when reprisal is the main reason for bullying. Other factors that teachers feel lead to bullying include “abusing others emotion, display of authorities, pleasures, weaklings, imitating others as well as financial wise (Yahaya, Ramli, Hashim, and Ibrahim 2009). These contrasts very heavily to what students think “many students, who are either victims or bystanders, fear bullying or becoming a target of bullying” (Brown, Mounts, Lamborn and Steinberg 1993).
Relationship between bullying and academic performance
A study carried out on American school children (aged 8 to 13) illustrated that bullies also tended to be victims and both groups (bullies and victims of bullying) often felt unsafe and had a sense of un-belonging in the school especially the classroom. The relationship between bullying and academic performance in class, results always in negative production. There are a number of factors or results that come out very strongly in students’ participation as a result of experiencing bullying (Andrew & Rebecca, 2008)
Students usually find it difficult to cope in class due to the low self esteem grown in them as a result of this vice. Findings from studies confirm this and are entirely based on the perceptions that teachers hold about victims of bullying. “Bully victims had more conduct problems and were less engaged in school than was any other group including both pure bullies and passive victims” (Juvoven et al 2003). Evidence on the academic performance of bully victims is also present and sheds light on this phenomenon of effects of bullying. The academic performances of victims of bullying are usually below par.
Bullying in some cases resulted to victims becoming less cooperative and sociable this is according to a study carried out on kindergarten kids in a Swiss study (Perren and Alsaker 2009). Social and stereotype segregation is also bound to happen to victims and this results in them feeling lonely and experience a difficulty in making friends. This greatly diminishes or hinders their classroom performance.
Relationship existing between frequencies of teacher’s response to bullying situations during class time
Teachers should think of employing strategies that actively engage their students in academic activities so as to dissuade them from engaging in bullying. Students that are engaged in positive activities such as learning have less time to think of engaging in bullying. The lack of proper instruction on the part of teachers can be said to be one of the contributors to bullying in the classroom and the school. In addition to this, curricula that encourage children to question their own assumptions and engage in critical thinking will reduce boredom and the opportunity to bully for entertainment purposes. Having activities overlap so that students are continuously busy with learning tasks can diminish the opportunity that children have to assert power over one another (Larson, 2008).
Having activities overlap so that students are continuously busy with learning tasks can diminish the opportunity that children have to assert power over one another. In conjunction with curriculum and effective teaching, consideration should be paid to creating a classroom climate that is inhospitable to bullying (Perren and Alsaker 2009). Thus, one of the first strategies in addressing bullying is to establish rules prohibiting it. Teachers can provide students with information that instructs them on how they should handle bullying behavior. As a part of a general classroom management strategy, teachers can also implement whole-class incentive systems that encourage children to control their aggressive behavior and concentrate on meeting behavioral goals (Andrew & Rebecca, 2008).
Accepting and identifying bullying is the first step for teachers for them to be able to stop and discouraged bullying. Subsequently steps and guidelines have to be set down and followed. All parties need to agree that bullying is wrong and aggression cannot and will not be tolerated within the classroom and the school altogether. Bullying and aggression are both harmful and damaging to healthy student development and hinder a student’s academic performance profoundly. Clear evidence is needed so as to be able to shed more light in this area. This is due to cases where no agreement is reached on this issue and teachers tend to disagree with students. Each may have their own opinion regarding bullying and how to come to terms with it (Hazler, Miller, Carney and Green 2007).
Conclusion
Bullying is still a challenging phenomenon in the school setup and both teachers and students need to cooperate fully to be able to discourage this growing evil. Numerous studies and researches have been able to determine the psycho-physiological aspects that lead to bullying and differentiate the groupings within bullying. This has helped a lot in the identifying and developing of ways to counter bullying and discourage it altogether. As we have found out bullying greatly diminishes active participation from victims in the classroom setup. The effects that come with this vice and the perception of victims in the eyes of their peers goes a long way in determining the level of participation and academic performance of victims. Teachers are well placed to encourage students against bullying and in turn discourage those involved in it to stop. In addition to this, the relationships formed between teachers and students should be strong enough to be able to counter any influence effects of bullying may have on victims, the bullies themselves and any other student. Bullying affects the whole school community and its impact is usually felt across the student body, teachers, and the whole school community through destruction of school property. In other cases the educational process is disrupted due to the feeling elicited in victims and actions taken by the school administration on perpetrators of bullying.
References
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