Bullying is a common phenomenon in schools. In my thesis, I present a view of bullying in schools through the eyes of school counsellors. I also research what their role is and what approaches they use in their work. In the theoretical part, I first present violence, schools, and school counselling a little more broadly and then focus specifically on bullying, the roles of participants in bullying, and the role of schools and school counsellors in bullying.
School counsellors play an important role in the process of dealing with bullying, as they often find themselves in the role of coordinating work between all participants. By all participants, I refer to students, parents, teachers, and if necessary, other institutions.
In the empirical part, I present the findings of the qualitative research, which I collected with the help of interviews with six counsellors employed at five different schools. I find that all counsellors at their schools recognize bullying, most often psychological violence. School counsellors are aware of the need for zero tolerance towards any violent behaviour and mostly respond accordingly, but they point out exceptions and circumstances in which violent behaviour or actions remain overlooked. They highlight that good collaboration with parents and teachers is crucial in solving problems, and they want to improve collaboration with them in the future.
|
