Teachers\u27 Perspectives on Bullying: Understanding Educational Interventions

During the last number of years, middle school bullying has received wide spread attention across numerous media sources. Coverage of the most troubling accounts of bullying have even led to criminal charges and the introduction of legislation against acts of bullying. A substantial body of research has shown that bullying leads to negative social and emotional outcomes for both the victims and the perpetrators of such acts. The same body of research also shows how much difficulty there is for teachers and other school personnel who attempt to control these fluid acts of aggression on a daily basis in and outside of their classroom. This study interviewed 12 teachers from a middle school in the Midwest of the United States. The interviewer worked to uncover when, where, and how teachers intervene in bullying situations that they encounter during their school day. Once this information had been established the respondents were asked to give information about any obstacles that they felt hindered them in effectively intervening in bullying situations. Whereas teachers felt they did a good job controlling acts of aggression within their classroom, they reported not being as successful in the common areas of the school. Those responding listed several reasons why strategies used inside the classroom were not appropriate for use outside of the classroom. Supervision strategies were not only different in these two areas but behavioral expectations were also different in these areas of school. These differences led to uncertainty among teachers and students about who was ultimately in charge of defining potentially harmful actions in the common areas of school