How Teachers and Students See Bullying: Do They Agree?

You're in a classroom. You're a kid, and you see someone getting picked on. What do you think your teacher should do? Now, imagine you're the teacher. How would you handle this situation? Surprisingly, it turns out that teachers and students might not see eye to eye when it comes to dealing with bullying. Researchers looked into this by talking to 410 students, roughly half boys and most White, from 26 classrooms. The kids were in the fourth or fifth grade, with an average age of 10. The study happened twice, in the fall and spring, to see if anything changed over time. Both teachers and students were asked about six ways teachers might respond to peer victimization. These included calling parents, telling the student to handle it themselves, or suggesting they avoid the situation. Here's where it gets interesting. Students tended to agree on only three responses: contacting parents, advising the student to deal with it alone, and suggesting avoidance. But there wasn't much agreement between what teachers thought they were doing and what students saw. It didn't matter if the kids were boys or girls, or if they were more aggressive or victimized themselves. The mismatch was still there. So, what does this mean? Maybe teachers and students need to talk more about what happens when someone gets bullied. Understanding each other's views could help create better strategies to stop bullying in schools.