Perceptions of Cyberbullying Amongst Teachers and Senior Management.

Abstract

Cyberbullying has become a serious problem that can have significant long-term effects on students’ mental health and academic outcomes. Given that most cyberbullying experiences involve individuals from a student’s school environment, it is important to examine the views of school staff on cyberbullying to develop appropriate prevention and intervention strategies. Positioned within the social-ecological framework, where interactions are facilitated by technology, this study explored teachers’ and senior managers’ perceptions towards cyberbullying. An online anonymous survey yielded 210 responses. The results showed that most respondents understood what behaviours constituted cyberbullying. However, many were unlikely to identify social exclusion as a component of cyberbullying. They perceived cyberbullying as conducted by students across all age groups, but mainly by girls. Senior managers were more likely than teachers to report low frequencies of cyberbullying and thus, not surprisingly, less likely than teachers to perceive cyberbullying as a problem in their schools. Finally, the majority of staff wanted to receive training on how to deal with cyberbullying.