“Anti-bullying programs have been implemented since the early 1980s and it has become increasingly more effective over the past few decades, however more research needs to be done to evaluate its level of effectiveness per grade level” (Ttofi et al., 2011, pg. 28) Interestingly, evidence has shown that anti-bullying programs have been successful in decreasing incidences of bullying among elementary aged students in comparison to middle and high school students. Theories argue that this could be a consequence of how bullying is exhibited differently in each age group, with younger students bullying consists of physical attacks and among adolescents bullying is more social among peers. (Yeager et al., 2015, pg. 3) The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was the first anti-bullying program that was implemented on a whole school scale and evaluated for its efficacy in improving the bullying climate in schools. (Limber, 2004) This program became the foundation for future anti-bullying programs because of its positive results in the school system, however the actual benefits of this program are still being researched. (Limber, 2004) Even though the number of anti-bullying programs are increasing, there still remains some difficulty in determining exactly how effective these programs are since there are only a few that obtain an in-depth evaluation on their level of effectiveness. (Ryan, 2009)
The purpose of this study is to assess how effective anti-bullying programs are in Barber Middle School from the Cobb County School District and how well these programs decrease instances of bullying. Data will be collected to address the following questions: (1) Do teachers with 3 or more years of experience have a different perception of how often bullying occurs in the school? (2) Are teachers aware of the resources that are available for anti-bullying programs on the county district website? (3) Based on the resources available, do teachers find them to be beneficial towards preventing bullying in their school? A questionnaire will be used to gather information on teachers’ awareness of the bullying prevention resources that are available on the district website and if these resources have been utilized.
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Bullying has been the topic of discussion for several years, especially when it pertains to students in school who unfortunately experience bullying first hand on a regular basis. “Bullying is a form of aggression involving the abuse of power in relationships.” (Alsaker, 2014, pg. 1) “It is recognised globally as a complex and serious problem. It can be seen as the abuse of power through unjustified and repeated acts of aggressive behaviour intended to inflict harm” (Roberts, 2014, pg.1) Bullying is not always easy to identify as it can be exhibited in different ways such as covert (also known as hidden bullying) or overt bullying, which in contrast is more visibly recognizable. (Roberts, 2014) Gossiping and spreading hurtful rumors about another student, cyber-bullying or deliberately excluding a student out of activities are all forms of hidden bullying. Excluding peers from participating in social activities has been considered one of the worst forms of bullying. (Roberts, 2014)
Behaviors including activities that can be directly observed such as physical aggression or verbal harassment, are considered forms of overt bullying. Even though overt bullying is easier to see and identify, it still occurs quite often without notice from adults and administrators. (Hinduja et al. 2015) With covert bullying also going unnoticed more often than overt bullying from the perspective of adults, children and adolescents suffer in silence most of the time. Unfortunately, students fear approaching their parents and teachers for help about the bullying as the information may come back to the bully and consequently worsen the victims’ situation. (Roberts, 2014) Another contributing factor to the high incidences of bullying are the behaviors of bystanders and whether or not they take action to intervene. Because having audience encourages bullies to continue their actions, bystanders serve as motivation for the bully to continue harassing the victim. (Padgett, 2013) It is important to understand that bystanders are the most crucial group of bullying influencers, since children and adolescents are so heavily influenced by their peers. If a student stands by and watches bullying, then they are inadvertently contributing to the problem. (Padgett, 2013) “Bystanders also behave or react in certain ways depending on their bystand
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