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Bias-based bullying affects a significant number of children and young people around the world (UNESCO, 2019). Teachers have a critical role in nurturing a safe and inclusive environment and preventing stigmatisation and oppression (Aguirre et al., 2021). However, we know relatively little about how teachers respond to bias-based bullying and how their practice can be enhanced. To address this gap in knowledge, this symposium brings together new international research from the disciplines of psychology and education to inform the development of more effective teacher responses to bias-based bullying.
The first paper explores teacher responses to racially motivated bullying in Scottish schools using interviews with teachers.
The second paper investigates teachers’ experiences and reactions to racist bullying among primary school pupils in the Netherlands. It also explores how racism is discussed in class to enhance children’s social safety.
The third paper examines the factors influencing teacher responses to incidents of ethnic victimisation in Swedish schools.
The fourth paper introduces the pedagogy of discomfort as a potentially useful tool for raising awareness about bias-based bullying in schools.
The fifth paper argues that teachers need a contextualized or embedded professional ethos to successfully address bias-based bullying and promote positive social relationships among students.
Together, the findings of these five papers contribute to our understanding of how teachers can respond more effectively to bias-based bullying and create more inclusive school environments.
Additional field for symposia
Teacher responses to racially motivated bullying in Scotland
Racially motivated bullying remains pervasive across Scottish schools. Teachers have a
critical role in nurturing a safe and inclusive environment and preventing stigmatisation and
oppression by intervening when a racially motivated bullying episode occurs but also by
actively developing an anti-racist climate within their school. Despite the crucial role teachers
can play in providing a safe environment for minority ethnic young people, there is a paucity
of literature examining teacher responses to racially motivated bullying. This study aims to
add to our knowledge about this issue by investigating Scottish teachers’ strategies when they
are confronted with a hypothetical racially motivated bullying incident in their school.
Interviews were conducted with a sample of eleven teachers from different levels of
education in Scotland. Our findings demonstrate that teachers struggle to recognise racism
and often reframe racist incidents through more de-politicised language and socially
normative concepts of school values, kindness and respect. However, teachers’ ability to
recognise and respond to racism is severely constrained by the lack of clear policy
frameworks, accessible training, and legislative directives. Our findings highlight the need to
invest in schools, communities and young people in order to create the social conditions in
which teachers’ capacities to respond to racism can develop and flourish.
Teachers' Responses to Racism and Racist Bullying in Dutch Primary Schools
Background: Children from non-White or non-Western backgrounds are at risk of experiencing racism early in life. Since they spend a significant amount of time in school, teachers play a crucial role in creating a safe and unbiased environment for these children.
Objective: This study investigates teachers’ experiences and reactions to racist bullying among primary school pupils in the Netherlands. It also explores how racism is discussed in class to enhance children’s social safety.
Methodology: The study involved nine semi-structured in-depth interviews with teachers, focusing on how they cope with racist bullying. Additionally, it examined the tools available to teachers for discussing racism in class. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results: The findings indicate that teachers prioritize a safe classroom climate and strong teacher-student relationships. However, they find it challenging to address incidents of racism. Many teachers believe that pupils often express racist sentiments unintentionally and without awareness. While teachers reported discussing racism in the classroom, their conversations tended to focus more on cultural diversity than on racism itself. Most teachers indicated that racism is not a stand-alone topic in the school curriculum and tools to discuss racism would be helpful.
Conclusions: Addressing racism and racist bullying is a vital yet complex task for teachers. To foster a safe classroom environment where racist incidents can be addressed and discussed, teachers need appropriate tools to enhance their knowledge, awareness, and skills.
Unveiling the Black Box: Exploring Teachers’ Approaches to Ethnic Victimization Incidents at School
Background: Increasing polarized political climate poses a risk for the formation of harmonious interactions between youth of different ethnic origins in schools. Teachers are considered as crucial resources in in addressing school bullying and supporting victims in overcoming the impacts of negative experiences. Nevertheless, our understanding of how teachers respond to ethnic victimization incidents is limited, along with the factors influencing their responses.
Objective: To address this gap in knowledge, this study examined the relative contributions of teachers’ general efficacy (i.e., managing disruptive behaviors in class) and diversity-related efficacy (i.e., addressing challenges of diversity) on their responses to ethnic victimization incidents.
Methodology: The sample consisted of head teachers of 8th grade students (N = 72; 56% females) in Sweden. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling with two analytic levels (Level 1: individual, Level 2: school).
Results: The findings indicate that teachers adopt a diverse range of strategies to address incidents of ethnic victimization, with a primary focus on prioritizing the comfort of the victim as the foremost action. Further, teachers’ efficacy in handling disruptive behaviors in class, as opposed to their efficacy in addressing diversity-related issues, explained their responses to victimization incidents. Specifically, teachers with a high sense of efficacy for classroom management were more likely to contact parents of both victims and perpetrators and to provide comfort to the victim.
Conclusions: These findings highlight the necessity of supporting teachers to enhance their efficacy in classroom management, and in turn to address potential challenges in diverse school settings more effectively.
Pedagogy of discomfort as a way to prevent and intervene against bias-based bullying
In this paper we present bias-based bullying episodes shared by Norwegian teachers and preservice teachers when talking about the concept of ‘discomfort’. We also investigate how 'discomfort' and 'pedagogy of discomfort' as a tool is reflected in teachers and preservice teachers’ prevention and intervention of bias based bullying episodes.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted among seven preservice teachers in their last year of teacher education, and seven teachers, with 7 – 24 years of experience, working in Norwegian schools.
Our main findings indicate that the pedagogy of discomfort might be a useful tool to prevent and intervene against bias-based bullying by using the feeling of discomfort that bias-based bullying creates in a constructive way. However, while the preservice teachers are inspired by theories of discomfort and social justice education and are motivated to try those theories out in practice, the teachers were not so familiar with these theories and tended to manage discomfort by avoiding it. By getting more familiar with the pedagogy of discomfort, teachers may improve classroom atmosphere and make it easier to explore difficult topics in a way that create room for differences and inclusion and strengthen students and teachers` ability to critical thinking and thus lower the risk of bias based bullying.
Teachers need socio-moral competencies to successfully address bias-based bullying: The case for promoting professional ethos
Recent research has identified the critical role of teachers in the bullying ecology. Teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours contribute to the establishment and perpetuation of bullying. Given their educational role and the moral and ethical basis of their professional teaching practice, it is most likely that the reactions teachers show will directly impact students’ behaviour, as they send direct and indirect messages on the acceptability of bullying through their own behaviour. This is particularly relevant regarding bias-based bullying, as targets of such bullying are “youth living with socially devalued characteristics” (Earnshaw et al., 2018) that render them particularly vulnerable. Accordingly, teachers’ sensitivity towards, awareness of, and reactions to bullying can be linked to their professional ethos, understood, very basically, as relating to care and responsibility.
In this conceptual paper I argue that teachers need a contextualized or embedded professional ethos to successfully address bias-based bullying and promote positive social relationships among students. Three objectives relating to the improvement of educational practices are pursued. First, with a view to professionalizing teachers, this paper attempts to make tangible the abstract concept of professional ethos, a concept largely neglected in contemporary teacher education. Second, it synthesizes current knowledge on the phenomenon of bias-based bullying in schools and the role of teachers in the bullying dynamics, highlighting the link between empirical findings and pedagogical practice. And third, I propose a contextualized model as a guide how teachers’ professional ethos in the area of bias-based bullying can be developed and fostered.
Keywords
bias-based bullying, racial bullying, ethnic victimisation, teachers, pedagogy, professional ethos
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
|---|---|
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Qualitative method study |
