Seen and heard: listening to children and creating caring schools
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Date
2014-11-10
Authors
Potterton, Mark
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Abstract
Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem which impacts adversely on school climates and can have negative lifelong consequences for students. Internationally there has been an extraordinary rise in interest in the phenomenon of bullying in the last three decades. Despite this world-wide interest, relatively little research has been carried out in South Africa. This study investigated the extent and nature of bullying as experienced by students in a sample of Catholic primary schools, and specifically explored the relationship between bullying and the ethos of care in these schools. Drawing on the wide literature on bullying, and a theoretical framework developed from the work of Hannah Arendt and others, the study investigated the assumption that there would be less bullying in schools where students felt that teachers showed more care and concern towards them.
A questionnaire was developed for the South African context to rapidly identify levels of bullying and care in schools. The ‘My Life in School’ checklist (questionnaire), originally developed by Tiny Arora, was modified and a section dealing with care in schools was added. The surveys were administered to 2 447 students, aged 9 to 14, in 16 Catholic schools, identified in a sampling design aimed to provide data which was broadly representative of urban Catholic schools in South Africa. Mission statements from the 16 schools were analysed in relation to notions of the Catholic School, and also provided the basis for consideration of school culture.
The analysis of the questionnaire, adapted in the light of students’ responses, yielded four indices showing a picture of the forms and intensity of bullying and care that students experienced from other students and from their teachers. Results showed gender differences as the most striking, with some differences evident along lines of language (and possibly, therefore, race), albeit to a lesser extent. The fact that teachers continue to hit students in some schools, and that
Seen and Heard: Listening to Children and Creating Caring Schools
they bully them in other ways too, is a finding that needs to be considered by the schools involved as well as Catholic education bodies.
While the regression analysis did not find a direct causal relationship between indices of bullying and care, it did show the significance of teacher behaviour – both bullying and care – in relation to student behaviour of bullying and care. It speaks to the important role of teachers in securing the wellbeing of students, and indeed to the importance of institutional culture in influencing the interactions of bullying and care.
The completely revised ‘My Life in School’ checklist developed in this study provides a valuable means for students to express their views on life in schools. The checklist provides a rapid means to students to assess the ethos of their schools from their perspective. Arguably, schools would be better placed to address bullying and other shortcomings and to improve school climates.
The thesis also provides a research-based contribution to literature on Catholic schools in South Africa and elsewhere.
Key words: school violence, bullying, care in schools, care and bullying, school climate.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the academic requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy.
Johannesburg, January 2014