Teachers’ Victimization-Related Beliefs and Strategies: Associations with Students’ Aggressive Behavior and Peer Victimization

Abstract

Although teachers are often called upon to reduce children's bullying and aggression, little is known regarding teachers' responses to students' harassment of peers or the beliefs which may inform their response strategies. To address this limitation, data were collected from 170 6th- and 7th-grade teachers (33 men; 137 women) and 2,938 (1,413 girls; 1,525 boys) of their students. Teachers beliefs regarding peer victimization were predictive of their efforts to advice victims how to cope with peer harassment. In particular, teachers who held more normative views of peer victimization were less likely to report reprimanding aggressive students and were more likely to utilize passive response strategies. Specific links emerged between teachers' beliefs and strategies and classroom-levels of aggression and peer victimization in the fall and in the spring, as well as changes in students' aggressive behavior and victimization over the course of the school year. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Teaching Practices, School Support and Bullying

“…While permissiveness favors the empowerment of the aggressor, increasing the vulnerability of victims. Direct intervention practices have the opposite effect, reducing the instrumental and affective gains of the aggressors and empowering the victims (James et al, 2008;Troop -Gordon & Ladd, 2013).…”

“…Teaching practices send an implicit message to students about the extent to which teacher approves or disapproves of this behavior (Troop-Gordon & Ladd, 2013, Yoon, 2004. Teachers' responses that are perceived by their students as approving victimization, whether or not the teacher's intention, increase the frequency and intensity of the phenomenon (Bauman & Del Río, 2006;Byers, Caltabiano, & Caltabiano, 2011;Yoon, 2004).…”

“…Permissive practices involve teachers' actions such as not intervening to stop the aggression, holding the victim accountable for the aggression and not punishing the aggressor (Kochenderfer-Ladd & Pelletier, 2008, Struyf, Adriaensens, & Meynen, 2011, Troop-Gordon & Ladd, 2013, Valdés, Martínez, & Carlos, 2017. Although evidence suggests that bullying increases if the aggressor succeeds in exercising his or her power over the victim without consequences, reports indicate that a large number of teachers do not intervene or do so inappropriately (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & O 'Brennan, 2007;Rigby & Bagshaw, 2003;Song & Swearer, 2002).…”

The role of empathy in preparing teachers to tackle bullying

“…Although some teachers understanding of bullying may be low, individual personalities must also be considered Research from Bauman and Del Rio (2006) finds that teachers had the least empathy for the victims of relational bullying over physical and verbal bullying, and were least likely to intervene in relational bullying incidents. Apart from a lack of knowledge about bullying, variations in teacher responses may also reflect teachers' a lack of empathy (Troop-Gordon & Ladd, 2015). Teachers with empathy will take time to understand students' behaviours and manage appropriately.…”

Bullying in Students with and Without Special Educational Needs

“…More specifically, surveys have shown that inadequate teacher training about tackling school bullying effectively is an important factor in enhancing victimization (Mishna, Scarcello, Pepler, & Wiener, 2005;Beran, 2006). It is therefore necessary to provide more advanced training, including various methods of intervention and knowledge of the appropriate selection and implementation of such interventions (Troop -Gordon & Ladd, 2015).…”