Practices for dealing with bullying by educators in Pakistan: Results from a study using the handling bullying questionnaire

Abstract

The presence of bullying and cyberbullying in Pakistani primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions has been widely studied. The detrimental effects of these forms of aggression on students’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being have been extensively documented. However, there is little literature describing how teachers in their professional institutions have addressed bullying using common approaches. In a cross-sectional survey, we collected data from 454 teachers working in various educational institutions in Pakistan. One-way ANOVAs indicate that severe punitive measures are still the most commonly used strategy by teachers in Pakistan to deal with bullying. We also found that primary school teachers are more likely to involve parents in solving the problems compared to higher educational institutions. Moreover, teachers from rural backgrounds were less likely to punish students and less likely to intervene in bullying incidents. The reasons for these behaviors are discussed in the discussion section. It is recommended that educators be trained to be able to address these issues with other effective strategies, such as empowering victims and counseling bullies more frequently.