Title: Teachers’ Perspectives About Bullying Among Learners in South African Secondary Schools: Implication for School Leadership
Stream: Educational Policy, Leadership, Management & Administration
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Authors:
Sekitla Daniel Makhasane, University of the Free State, South Africa
Abstract:
Bullying among learners is a global concern which has negative effects on teaching and learning, health and social well-being of children. It is now acknowledged that bullying is one of the forms of violence which has attracted the attention of researchers, practitioners and policy makers. South Africa features among countries that experience high level of violence and South African schools are also battling to address the violence that is rife within schools. The media reports and literature indicate that bullying is escalating in South African schools. While bullying has widely been researched in developed countries, studies about bullying in developing countries and South Africa, in particular, are emerging. The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ perspectives about bullying among learners in South African secondary schools and school leadership implications thereof. Data was generated through semi-structured individual interviews with six teachers from each of the two-participant secondary schools. The findings suggest that bullying among learners in the two schools was identified as traditional and cyberbullying. The increasing use of social media among learners has placed them in a position whereby bullying is also perpetrated through social media. It was found that bullying has adverse effects on the victims and those who witnessed it. Based on the findings, I argue for the leadership that teachers and learners should exercise to address bullying.
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