The voices of victims and witnesses of school bullying

Abstract

The voices of victims and witnesses of school bullying There has never been a stronger demand from the South African public to reduce school violence than at present. The demand for safe schools cannot be achieved unless the issue of bullying is adequately addressed. However, it appears from newspaper reports that some of the role players are not willing to listen to the victims of bullying. The aim of this article is to give a voice to some of the victims, as well as those witnessing school bullying. This article reports on findings from an investigation of the experiences of a group of Free State learners who were witnesses and victims of bullying. The research instrument was the Delaware Bullying Questionnaire. The first important conclusion from this study was that bullying was a serious problem in some Free State schools. Secondly, it was found that the respondents were more often the victims of male than of female bullies. Thirdly, the quantitative data indicated that the majority of victims were bullied by learners who were in the same grade as they were. The qualitative data, however, revealed that the bullying of Grade 8 learners by Grade 12 learners seems to be a fairly common occurrence. Finally, some comments and recommendations are made. Opsomming Die stemme van slagoffers en getuies van skoolbullebakkery Die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap is tans onverbiddelik in hulle eis dat geweld in skole hanteer word. Die daarstelling van veilige skole is 'n onbereikbare doel indien die kwessie van bullebakkery nie voldoende hanteer word nie. Dit blyk egter uit The voices of victims and witnesses of school bullying koerantberigte dat sommige rolspelers nie bereid is om na die slagoffers van bullebakkery te luister nie. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om 'n stem aan sommige van die slagoffers en getuies van skoolbullebakkery te gee. Die artikel lewer verslag van 'n groep Vrystaatse leerders se ervarings van en waarnemings van bullebakkery. Die navorsingsinstrument was die Delaware Bullebakkery-vraelys. Die eerste belangrike konklusie van hierdie studie is dat bullebakkery 'n ernstige probleem in sommige Vrystaatse skole is. Daar is tweedens bevind dat die respondente meer dikwels die slagoffers van manlike as vroulike bullebakke was. Die kwantitatiewe data het derdens aangedui dat die meerderheid van die slagoffers deur leerders wat in dieselfde graad as hulle was, geviktimiseer is. Die kwalitatiewe data het egter aangedui dat die viktimisering van graad 8-leerders deur graad 12-leerders 'n redelik algemene verskynsel is. Laastens word enkele opmerkings en aanbevelings gemaak.