Peer bullying can be defined as violence, which is reoccurring and can take place for a long time with the intention to hurt others. It is characterised by imbalance of power between the bully and the victim. In manifests in different forms of violence (physical, verbal, psychological, economic and sexual violence), which are intertwining. Schools are faced with peer bullying on a daily basis.
For the purposes of the Master’s thesis, we performed a research to find out, if 9th grade students of primary schools from Prekmurje are recognising peer bullying, how often and which forms of violence they are perceiving, their view on the measures of school professionals when becoming aware of peer bullying and how they assess the importance of different activities to reduce and prevent peer bulling. As the research approach in the Master’s thesis, we used a quantitative research. The research sample was purposive, composed of male and female 9th grade students of six primary schools from Prekmurje. The sample consisted of 131 students.
The analysis of results showed that 9th grade students of different primary schools from Prekmurje recognize peer bullying. We found that girls recognize peer bullying a little better than boys, girls are also somewhat better in recognising the characteristics of victims of peer bullying than boys. We also found that the rate of students, who are sometimes victims of peer bullying, is significant. According to students, the most frequent form of peer bullying in the school is verbal bullying, according to them, peer bullying is often taking place in hallways. We found that students react properly to perceived peer bullying. We found that girls react more frequently and in a more appropriate way to perceived peer bullying than boys. We also found that, according to students, school professionals react properly to perceived peer bullying; they notice it, they do not ignore it, they try to stop it and take appropriate measures. We found that, according to students, school professionals take complaints of students seriously. According to students, different activities, used to reduce and prevent peer bullying, have an important influence on their reduction and prevention.
For even better results in the future, it is reasonable to form and perform effective strategies, which would contribute to even better recognition of peer bullying among students and to the effort for the prevention or reduction of such violence, therefore we used the research findings and review of literature to provide suggestions for students and school professionals. This way we could within the framework of the regular teaching program for the subject Household perform and lesson on the subject of peer bullying. During classroom sessions and within the regular reaching program we could use the teaching method of cooperative learning or group work. It is also important to carry out classroom sessions on the topic of peer bullying, to hang posters with informative content about peer bullying, to appraise good behaviour, to organize workshops about peer bullying and mutual relationships, to perform annual researches of peer bullying in schools, to form classroom rules and increase the supervision by school professionals in hallways. The obtained results of the research could be of help for schools in work- and activity planning in order for the school to be a friendly place for students with less violence.
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