An examination of parents’ and preschool workers’ perspectives on bullying in preschool

ABSTRACT

Parents (n = 141) and preschool workers (n = 81) completed a survey regarding their perspectives towards: (a) the existence of bullying in preschool, (b) interpretations of bullying, (c) the roles of bullies and victims, and (d) gender differences. Findings suggest that both groups largely believe that bullying occurs in preschool. Excluding others from play, conditional threats, and the victim's perception of being bullied were the three conditions most likely to be associated with bullying. Parents were significantly more likely than workers to hold a negative view of bullies and believe that bullying differs with regard to gender. Whereas most participants felt that bullying could occur in a single incident, only one in four agreed with the notion that children's actions must be intentional to be considered bullying. The study raises questions about whether current interpretations of bullying in the literature are suitable for children in the context of preschool.

KEYWORDS:

• Bullying
• perspectives
• attitudes
• parents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

David Lansing Cameron is a professor of special education at the Department of Education, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, where he researches and teaches in the fields of inclusive, comparative, and special education. His most recent work concerns multi-disciplinary collaboration, implementation of educational policy, and exploration of the social learning environments of children.

Velibor Bobo Kovac is a professor at the Department of Education at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, where he teaches courses in psychology, special education, research methods and the history of education. His research interests include studies on addictive behaviours, motivational theory and assessments of children's behaviours in various contexts.