Introduction
Bullying is the act whereby a person hurts, persecutes, or even intimidates a weaker person. This is one act that is deeply rooted in schools where the seniors take advantage of the juniors and mistreat them. The bullying action involves many incidences of fighting, in which case the bullies involve themselves in fights with the other students (Rasa et al., 2008). The victims of such actions are more often faced with quite a number of problems that are not encouraging. These may comprise of disquietedness, very low self-esteem, depression, very low-self confidence, and even poor self-image (Taylora et al., 2009). The victims may be so much affected that they start losing interest in school. Both the bullies and those bullied show poorer psychosocial functioning than those who are totally uninvolved (Bennett, 2008). This translates to very low school attendance and consequent poor performance in school.
This is indeed a major problem that needs to be addressed with all the seriousness that it deserves. However, the teachers may end up spending more time dealing with this problem at the expense of instructional time in classes. This affects the overall academic standards of the school.
Background
Dealing with this aspect of violence in schools has become a teething problem for most teachers. High profile levels of violence are mostly dealt with, but bullying is one form of violence that is not considered to be extreme but ought to be taken care of, lest it brings down the standards of education due to its adverse effects. According to research that has been carried out in recent times, bullying has been found to have very deep effects on the general learning atmosphere of a school. The ability of proper learning by the student is highly affected due to apprehensiveness. This is brought about by the harassment and all forms of intimidation associated with bullying practices. If this problem is not corrected, it can lead to other forms of violence, which might be more dangerous (Casey et al., 2009). Back in the year 2001, the ‘No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’(NCLB), a law which was passed in the United States of America, sees unto it that safety in the schools is upheld and is of major importance to the school management. Schools that are considered to be ripe with problem behaviors and thus insecure are marked, and their students are permitted to move to safer schools. This shows the seriousness with which the aspect of violence, and in this case bullying, is taken.
Bullying, as one of the major problem behaviors in schools, can actually have grave repercussions for all the parties involved in it. The victims always suffer a lot of problems. They try to seclude themselves; something which leads to depression and a feeling of insecurity at all times (Michael, Daniel & Bullying, 2010). Students tend to hate and dread going to school, one thing that leads to many school dropouts (Barbe, Swassing & Milone, 2009). The bullies also suffer emotionally and their social lives may be eroded in the long run. These bullies end up in dangerous gangs and groups. These are the people who get involved in criminal activities and pose a threat to society. Therefore, the earlier this problem is taken care of, the better. The witnesses of these bullying actions also suffer some negative effects. Reports indicate that they suffer fear of being the next victims and targets of such mistreatments. They are therefore distressed and are always unhappy. This translates to poor performance in their academics since they concentrate on how to avoid the bullies, rather than focusing on academics (Bowles & Herbert, 2010).
Anti-bully programs which are to succeed at the school level need to target the children as individuals. This will help in changing the way the students view and perceive the whole matter, which translates to a safer learning environment. To achieve this, all the parties have to be deeply involved in these programs, that is, the victims, the bullies, those who witness these actions, and even their families (Daron, Johnson & Robinson, 2011). For these types of programs to bear fruit, the teachers and administrators must always show their interest by way of fully supporting the program. This involves spending finances on it and ensuring that the programs are taught in class by way of floating them in the curriculum.
The teachers should insist on etiquette and acceptable behavioral trends amongst the students. School rules need to be developed which prohibit bullying at all costs. Everybody in the school needs to take it as his or her own initiative to curb this vice and bring it to an end. No one should condone this type of behavior, and more so the head of the institution. The administrators should involve everybody is coming up with policies to address this problem. The policies should be written and distributed to the whole school community. One such policy should clearly define what bullying is and most probably a reporting system that is quite confidential. This will go a long way in encouraging those who are victimized or have witnessed such an action in the institution to report without fear of being known (Finn, Gerber, & Boyd-Zaharias, 2010). An assessment of the progress of the anti-bully programs is supposed to be implemented in order to deal with this vice properly. This can be done in form of questionnaires which are distributed to the students. Through such assessments, awareness is created in the school and they also help in insisting on the importance of good behavioral practices. Such an assessment also aids in the process of coming up with other strategies such as plans of implementing the programs, since everyone is involved. The knowledge acquired helps in cultivating virtues such as empathy in the students’ lives.
Problem Statement
The general study is how the teachers deal with bullying in the classes. This involves physical abuse, psychological torture, and teasing, which leads to the poor academic performance of the school. The problem is that the teachers may take a lot of time addressing these acts of violence at the expense of instructional time in the classes.
Bullying is one practice that is of major concern to all schools. Not only does it affect the academic standards of the students and the school in general, but also leads to erosion of the behaviors and morals of those involved, especially the bullies. This problem needs to be sorted out for there to be a good and ample environment for learning to take place effectively. Research has proven that most teachers take bullying for granted. They take it as mere childhood habits and behaviors. The dining hall harassment practices, for example, are usually overlooked, and this forms the basis for this type of ill behavior (Frankena, Raybeck & Burbules, 2008). The problem arises where the teachers tend to spend time dealing with bullying cases, time which could otherwise be used in productive academic work. This is because they are involved fully in the decision-making processes, which include coming up with policies that may be used in dealing with this problem. Implementation of these policies is also time-consuming; especially where they are floated after there is an alarming rate of bullying incidences. Both school and student-intervention methods discussed earlier on should be implemented in order to cultivate an environment that is friendly and easy to deal with. Teachers who have incorporated teachings on bullying into their teaching curriculum find it easy to deal with this vice. This is because the students learn to appreciate each other and incidences of bullying are greatly reduced (Schofield, 2009).
A qualitative descriptive research methodology is appropriate while carrying out this study. This is because it entails the thoughts and opinions of people, especially the teachers. The population group has to involve open questions and a physical education teacher from Jacksonville, FL Schools (Anne & Mara, 2010).
Purpose statement
The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study is to gain some understanding from teachers about their perceptions and practices surrounding bullying behaviors in class. This is based on the fact that teachers view this whole issue from a different perspective.
This research study is aimed at investigating the degree and extent of problem behavior in schools nationally. The study will entail all the forms of violence in the school whether high-level or low-level. Problem behaviors that are regarded to be extreme or high-level include onslaught and even killings. These are usually given all the attention in most schools at the expense of the low-level forms of violence (Hanushek & Ludger, 2008). Some forms of problem behaviors are not viewed as being extreme and are thus overlooked. One such form of violence is bullying and is really widespread (Mincer, 2010). The environment and general mood of the school are always affected by bullying practices. The aftereffects of bullying are far much alarming and it’s a high time the problem is solved once and for all.
The other purpose of this descriptive qualitative research study is to investigate the kind of efforts that are underway in schools to prevent problem behavior. Due to the adverse effects of the latter in schools, a lot is being done to do away with it. One of them is incorporating bullying prevention programs in the curriculum. This helps in early teachings against problem behaviors amongst the students. It also creates awareness in the school community and goes a long way in preventing any further behavioral problems in the future. Policies to deal with bullying problems are also established. This has to involve all the members of the school community for effective implementation and adherence to these policies. The heads of the schools should be at the forefront in the process of curbing these behavioral problems. Their stands are to be firm and should send a strong message which prohibits these forms of violence.
The final purpose of this descriptive research study is to investigate how well the efforts to prevent problem behavior are being implemented. Some of the policies are implemented, but not in full, a thing that hinders the full realization of the main objective. The team responsible for oversight of the school’s bullying prevention program should provide training to all staff members and the students. The committee is also to deal with the implementation of all the setup policies (Whyte, 2009).
This study is to go into the depths of evaluating and examining the correlation between bullying and participation in physical education classes, one thing which is to aid the process of combating problem behaviors in schools and their associated effects.
References
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