Bullying experiences of students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD)

Abstract

This article is based on the accounts of 29 boys identified as having severe social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) who were attending a residential school in New Zealand. Through in-depth, semi-structured and focus group interviews, a number of salient features of their schooling experiences emerged. One of these features was the experience of bullying. Despite the intuitive connection between SEBD and bullying, little research has directly examined its impact on these students. Results indicated that these students are at increased risk for both victimisation and bullying perpetration and highlight the association between a lack of positive relations with peers and the increased chance of being bullied. The findings also suggested that limitations in teachers’ understanding of bullying and their effectiveness in addressing this play a role in its perpetration.

Keywords:

• SEBD
• students’ experiences
• bullying
• mainstream schools
• residential schools