Contemporary Context

Bullying in Today's World

When looking at the context of bullying in schools today, it is important to look at today's meaning of bullying, as it has been changing throughout the years. Cyberbullying, a subtype of bullying, has especially been increasing in today's society so recognizing what this is and what it entails is extremely important to help children in schools. We also look towards the poor quality of training of teachers in regards to anti-bullying policies as a reason as to why bullying is such a problem in schools.

Today's Meaning of Bullying

Research from National Center for Education Statistics.

Today, bullying is defined as "an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm" (NCAB, 2023, para. 1). The NCAB also mentions that it can be done either in person or virtually through a variety of platforms (para. 2). It was found by the National Center of Education Statistics (n.d.) that people with two or more races are bullied the most (para. 3). Since the 1970s, students with disabilities became integrated into schools with people who do not have disabilities. This has caused an increase of victimization in terms of bullying for students with disabilities (Young et al., 2016, para. 3). Also, researchers found that minorities are more vulnerable to be involved in bullying than majorities, specifically sexual minorities (Llorent et al., 2016, para. 1). All of this exhibits the discrimination that is continuing in schools through bullying which could be because of the previous themes of it seen in the past. Due to the increase of equitable access in schools, more minorities are attending schools allowing for them to become subject to bullying. This showcases why we need to continue to develop our anti-bullying policies in order to protect these students who continue to be bullied and discriminated against.

Cyberbullying

Bar graph of research from Pew Research Center.

Cyberbullying has especially become a problem among younger generations. This refers to bullying that is done through online platforms, like for example social media or text messages. Phillips (2022) defines cyberbullying as, "A situation in which a teen, preteen, or child is embarrassed, humiliated, harassed, threatened, tormented, or otherwise targeted online" (para. 3). Cyberbullying has different concerns from bullying as it can be persistent due to the ability to continually communicate 24 hours a day unlike only taking place in school. It can also be permanent as once something is posted, it will always be there if not reported and removed. Furthermore, it can be hard to notice as parents or teachers are not able to actively see it take place unless they are on that online platform (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2021). In 2022, 46% of US teens ages 13-17 reported either being cyberbullied or harassed (Vogels, 2022, para. 3). This percentage is continuing to rise. Therefore, policies need to be put in place in schools to educate parents and teachers as to the signs of someone being cyberbullied so they can notice if it is happening to their child or student.

More Training Required

Part of the reason there is so many acts of bullying happening in schools is because of teachers’ lack of training in knowing how to stop it from happening. In a study conducted by Hiba Ashraf and other researchers, they gave a questionnaire to 153 teachers to observe if they have adequate knowledge of what bullying is. The results are below:

Research from Ashraf, 2019.

The researchers found that more than half of them, 53.6%, had inadequate knowledge about bullying. The act of mimicking and spreading rumors were identified by only one-fifth of teachers as an act of bullying. Only one-third of them identified teasing and blackmailing as an act of bullying as well (Ashraf et al., 2019, para. 15). This is very troublesome because if teachers cannot recognize acts of bullying, then they are less likely to intervene, allowing for the bullying to continue. In order to help teachers intervene more when children are being bullied, people need to increase the awareness of bullying in teachers and administrators in schools. It was found by Tom Kennedy et al. (2012) that teachers only intercept about 15-18% of bullying incidents.

Also, children often do not want to report bullying incidents due to believing they might not do anything about it or it will just make the situation worse (p. 3). By increasing the awareness of bullying happening in their schools, this will allow for teachers and administrators to recognize when an act of bullying is taking place so they can intervene even if the student does not report it. Teachers also need to know how to intervene effectively which is why training is important as to teach them how to do that. In another research study, researchers found that teachers who perceived themselves as competent in intervening during an act of bullying will do so more than those who feel they are not competent (De Luca et al., 2019, para. 27). Therefore, the training of teachers in how to intervene in bullying is extremely important, because it will provide this feeling of competence in teachers, allowing them to intervene more and prevent bullying in their schools.

TedTalk by Toki Lee

This TedTalk discusses the impact of bullying on kids in school. Lee specifically talks about the prevalence of bullying on minorities and how it can prevent them from wanting to identify with their culture. The speaker, Toki Lee, suggests options to help reduce bullying in schools, including convincing bystanders to intervene, harsher punishments for the bully, and teaching children when they are young to respect others even when they are different.

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