An investigation into the nature of bullying in selected secondary schools in the Oshana education region region of Namibia
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Date
2011
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Bullying is regarded as an emotional issue which affects the entire school community. A lot of studies have been carried out in the developed world where it was concluded that bullying has short and long term negative effects on the lives of both victims and perpetrators. In Namibia, apart from this study, no study was carried out in order to determine the nature of bullying in Namibian schools. This is the main reason why this study was initiated in order to look into the extent to which bullying is happening in schools, the causes and effects of bullying, and the strategies used by teachers in order to combat bullying in schools
A mixed methods research study was carried out. Purposeful sampling was used to select 7 secondary schools in the Oshana Region and 30 learners per school were used for this study. Fifteen learners per school were selected for focus group discussions. Learners were divided into 3 groups, namely: Group A for learners perceived as perpetrators of bullying, Group B for learners perceived as victims of bullying and Group C for learners who were randomly selected. In addition, 5 teachers per school were interviewed during focus group discussions. The findings revealed that the majority of teachers and learners were aware that bullying took place in their schools. The most common types were physical and emotional bullying. New types of bullying also emerged through the study. Chi-square analysis indicated that there is a relationship between bullying, and school size, school performance, school setting as well as grade repetition. It was revealed that very big schools and weak performing schools experienced more bullying activities in comparison to medium sized and excellent performing schools
The causes of bullying varied from school to school. Poor school rules, school setting, and peer pressure emerged to be some of the most common causes of bullying. Bullying has long term effects on the lives of both victims and perpetrators. Ample evidence from the analyses of data showed that bullying contributes negatively to academic performance, discipline in schools and self-esteem
Although the impact of bullying is huge, the findings revealed that there is no ministerial policy which specifically addresses bullying in schools. Each school tends to deal with bullying the way teachers find it best and it seems teachers lack skills on how to handle bullying cases
In conclusion, bullying in schools is worse than people outside can imagine. Learners and teachers are living in fear of their lives. There is an urgent need for intervention from the policymakers so that antibullying policies are introduced in schools. It is never too late to plan but it will be too late to reverse the situation if there is no action taken against bullying in Namibian schools
Bullying is regarded as an emotional issue which affects the entire school community. A lot of studies have been carried out in the developed world where it was concluded that bullying has short and long term negative effects on the lives of both victims and perpetrators. In Namibia, apart from this study, no study was carried out in order to determine the nature of bullying in Namibian schools. This is the main reason why this study was initiated in order to look into the extent to which bullying is happening in schools, the causes and effects of bullying, and the strategies used by teachers in order to combat bullying in schools
A mixed methods research study was carried out. Purposeful sampling was used to select 7 secondary schools in the Oshana Region and 30 learners per school were used for this study. Fifteen learners per school were selected for focus group discussions. Learners were divided into 3 groups, namely: Group A for learners perceived as perpetrators of bullying, Group B for learners perceived as victims of bullying and Group C for learners who were randomly selected. In addition, 5 teachers per school were interviewed during focus group discussions. The findings revealed that the majority of teachers and learners were aware that bullying took place in their schools. The most common types were physical and emotional bullying. New types of bullying also emerged through the study. Chi-square analysis indicated that there is a relationship between bullying, and school size, school performance, school setting as well as grade repetition. It was revealed that very big schools and weak performing schools experienced more bullying activities in comparison to medium sized and excellent performing schools
The causes of bullying varied from school to school. Poor school rules, school setting, and peer pressure emerged to be some of the most common causes of bullying. Bullying has long term effects on the lives of both victims and perpetrators. Ample evidence from the analyses of data showed that bullying contributes negatively to academic performance, discipline in schools and self-esteem
Although the impact of bullying is huge, the findings revealed that there is no ministerial policy which specifically addresses bullying in schools. Each school tends to deal with bullying the way teachers find it best and it seems teachers lack skills on how to handle bullying cases
In conclusion, bullying in schools is worse than people outside can imagine. Learners and teachers are living in fear of their lives. There is an urgent need for intervention from the policymakers so that antibullying policies are introduced in schools. It is never too late to plan but it will be too late to reverse the situation if there is no action taken against bullying in Namibian schools
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A theses submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education
Keywords
Bullying in Schools Namibia