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Abstract
Preventing and reducing bullying requires long-term and systematic school-wide actions. Researchers on bullying have given little attention to the school organization and its influence on the ability to implement the necessary actions to prevent and stop bullying. This study examines the relationship between aspects of a school’s professional culture and rates of bullying. From a sample of 18,767 students and 1,932 teachers in 85 primary, secondary, and combined schools, subgroups of schools with high (11 schools) and low (10 schools) rates of bullying were identified. Schools with high and low rates differed significantly on all organizational factors; teachers in schools with high rates of bullying reported weaker leadership, teacher affiliation, and collaborative activity than teachers at schools with low rates of bullying. Teacher authority had a mediating role between aspects of the professional culture and rates of bullying. Implications for practice are also discussed.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Trude Havik for her thorough work in administering the data collection and in preparing the data for analysis.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sigrun K. Ertesvåg
Sigrun K. Ertesvåg is professor of educational psychology at the Norwegian Center for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education. Her main research interests are implementation quality and effective interventions, schools’ capacity to improve, and classroom management.
Erling Roland
Erling Roland is professor of educational psychology at the Norwegian Center for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education. Main research interests are bullying in school, other psychosocial problems, and classroom management.