Comparing Middle School Teachers' and Students' Views on Bullying and Anti-Bullying Interventions

Abstract

This study compares middle school students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of intervention and prevention strategies commonly used by children, teachers, and nonteaching staff to address bullying among students as identified in the research literature. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The results indicate that teachers are more likely to perceive bullying intervention and prevention strategies as effective than are students, and to perceive teachers as offering assistance to student victims. Both teachers and students appear to believe that teachers need to teach students assertiveness techniques to confront perpetrators. However, both students and teachers generally did not see as helpful some of the common educational techniques utilized by most bullying prevention programs, including role-playing and literature.

Key Words:

• Middle school
• prevention
• bullying
• assertiveness
• victims