Abstract
M. Ed.
Bullying among children is a phenomenon that is neither new, nor unfamiliar. However, it was not until somewhat recently that social scientists began to study this phenomenon in more depth. The first of these studies were largely confined to the Scandinavian country, Norway, where Dr. Dan Olweus started his research on bullying in the 1970's. Othercountries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, theNetherlands and Australia, soon followed suit. While attending a conference on Health and Safety in South African schools during 2000, that included a summit on bullying, it came to my attention that although the mentioned countries had done a lot of research on the ways in which bullying can be addressed in their schools, this seemed to be wanting in South Africa. From this awareness spread this particular dissertation with the purpose of examining how bullying can be reduced in schools by means of an appropriate anti-bullying intervention programme for the South African school context.
In order to fulfil this purpose, this dissertation includes a literature review that explores and
describes intervention strategies that have been implemented by other countries to address bullying within their schools. However, since schools can only begin to effectively address the occurrence of bullying after they have developed a clear understanding of it, the literature review first focuses on bullying and defines it as a wilful or conscious desire and act of aggression that involves the following elements: harm is intended; there is an imbalance in power; it is often organised and systematic; it is repetitive act that occurs over a period of time; it is done by someone who is feared for his behaviour; and hurt is experienced by a victim.
While further exploring the concept bullying, the literature review also focuses on the different types of bullying, the factors that contribute to bullying and the consequences that this phenomenon holds for all involved. Then, the next part of the literature review concentrates on intervention strategies and programmes that have been implemented by other countries to address bullying in their schools. In this regard specific attention is given to the role that the different sub-systems of the school as a broader system play in addressing and preventing bullying.
In further fulfilling the purpose of this dissertation, guidelines are set for the development of an anti-bullying intervention programme for a specific diverse South-African school that has reported bullying. To set these guidelines, individual semi-structured interviews have been conducted with some of the educators in the school. These interviews, that mainly focussed on the educators' experiences of bullying in the school, were analysed according to the constant comparative method of data analysis and it was found that the findings could be divided into the following three main categories: Rainbow School (pseudonym for the school that was used as a case study), educators' perceptions of bullying and learners' perceptions of bullying. From these categories and the findings that were categorised in them, guidelines are set for the development and implementation of an intervention programme that can address bullying within this particular school.
In conclusion, although the mentioned guidelines only pertain to a specific school, by employing the information given in the literature review and the analysis of the data, other South African schools can similarly develop intervention strategies aimed at addressing bullying within their specific school. In doing this, South African schools will join the worldwide campaign against bullying in schools.