Sharing Student Projects

This study explored UK secondary school teacher’s real-life experiences of witnessing and dealing with bias-based bullying. Bias-based bullying involves the victimization of individuals based on their social identities (e.g., racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ identifying people, obesity or ‘disability’) and has a detrimental impact on students’ psychological, social and academic outcomes (e.g., Russell et al., 2012). The aim of this research was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of why teachers are perceived to be ineffective in dealing in bullying intervention (e.g., Williams et al., 2018) and how they can be better supported to have a more positive impact. This study took a qualitative approach to examine and make sense of five secondary school teachers’ experiences. Participants were recruited via social media and interviews conducted on Zoom to explore the the topic with participants where open-ended questions were asked to encourage rich exploration. Data was transcribed and analysed and a research diary was also kept to ensure continual reflection throughout the research process. Two themes emerged which offered explanations as to why and how teachers intervene in incidents of bias-based bullying. Findings were broadly consistent with existing knowledge and bullying research. Firstly, participants felt obliged to intervene and incidents involving prejudice were experienced with some confusion and discomfort (Equality act, 2010; McBride, 2015). Secondly, participants perceived that they had few opportunities to intervene as incidents did not normally happen in class. Participants intervened in direct or overt bullying (e.g. throwing balls of paper at a student or name-calling), rather than indirect, covert incidents (e.g., comments or actions which expressed prejudiced attitudes) (Ellis & Shute, 2007;Yoon, 2004). This highlighted the need to focus on how more ambiguous, relational forms of bias-based bullying should be dealt with as they are common and extremely damaging (Ditch the Label, 2020; Dedousis-Wallace et al., 2014). Participants seemed motivated to intervene when they experienced empathy or perceived incidents as serious (e.g., Vanzoeren & Weisz, 2018; Dedousis-Wallace et al., 2014). An unanticipated finding was that empathy was sometimes combined with feelings of personal distress which implied that teachers may require more emotional, as well as practical, support. Reactive strategies used to target the ‘perpetrator’ including disciplinary methods, or involving staff and parents did not necessarily resolve underlying prejudice and/or change student behaviour. This suggested that teachers need to be supported in building positive connections with parents when teachers’ and parents’ views differ and to move away from only sanctioning students. Preventative measures to target the whole group with open conversations, PHSE lessons and facilitating intergroup contact were perceived to have a more positive impact. Conclusively, it seemed that a whole-school approach, focusing on prevention and inclusivity, should be prioritized over reacting to individual behaviour (Charlesworth, 2020; Anti-bullying Alliance, 2021). This points to the necessity for UK secondary schools to support teachers’ efforts as part of a whole-school approach to reduce bias-based bullying.

Findings from this study have the potential to benefit young people. Bias-based bullying is undeniably harmful to all students and it is a major problem in UK schools with one in four students enduring it (Ditch the Label, 2020). Working to reduce its prevalence will ensure better social and psychological outcomes and greater wellbeing for victims of bullying (Russell et al., 2012). Further, if perpetrators of bullying are not ‘blamed’, but worked with, they too are likely to benefit by learning more positive ways of building relationships and relating to others (Liebmann, 2007). Finally, student bystanders, who witness bullying, will benefit from a safer school environment where they will be less likely to be bullied themselves. Witnessing bias-based bullying is disruptive to the class, prevents learning, and seems to be experienced by some teachers as personally distressing. Working on eradicating the problem could therefore increase teacher wellbeing. Promoting a positive school environment should improve student and teacher wellbeing, improve students’ readiness to learn, academic achievement and social and emotional competencies (Public Health England, 2014). This also has wider implications. If pupils experience a positive, inclusive, warm school culture, this can only be beneficial in influencing social norms at a societal level to ensure a welcoming, inclusive society which makes a conscious effort to reduce harm caused to minority social groups.