‘Pre-service Teachers’ Understanding of Bullying in Australia and India Implications for Practice’ Authors: Barbara Spears, Carmel Taddeo, Lesley-Anne Ey, Toby Carslake, Alexander Stretton, Colette Langos, Damanjit Sandhu and Suresh Sundaram
'Pre-service Teachers’ Understanding of Bullying in Australia and India Implications for Practice’ Contexts’ in Peter K Smith, Suresh Sundaram, Barbara Spears, Catherine Blaya, Mechthild Schafer & Damanjit Sandhu (eds), Bullying, Cyberbullying and Student Well-being in Schools: Comparing European,
Posted: 2 Oct 2018 Last revised: 9 Feb 2019
Date Written: September 20, 2018
Abstract
Bullying and cyberbullying are recognised to be global phenomena in schools, seriously impacting on young people’s education outcomes and physical and mental health and wellbeing. The dominant discourse regarding bullying and cyberbullying research to date, however, has emphasised a strong Western-centric perspective. Whilst some research has emerged from non-Western countries on the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying, little is known regarding pre-service teachers’ knowledge and understanding of these phenomena in these contexts.
This chapter considers pre-service teachers’ understanding of bullying in India and Australia, to extend knowledge and inform prevention and intervention strategies. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) are a crucial part of the teaching profession’s regeneration and in their role have an opportunity to address bullying proactively. As such, building their knowledge, understanding, competence and confidence in addressing bullying is important.
Pre-service teachers’ (N=678) knowledge was examined in two countries via anonymous mixed-method surveys: Australia (n=178) and India (N=509: Punjab, n=209; Tamil Nadu, n=300).
Results revealed more Australian than Indian PSTs: perceived bullying as a problem (90%:65%); witnessed bullying in schools (79%:49%); felt informed (63%:50%), capable (64%:49%), and confident to deal with it (55%:49%); and felt specific training was necessary (86%:52%). Both settings indicated they had learnt about bullying through general and social media.
Qualitative data indicated that those who were victimised in Indian schools were similar to those in other school settings: girls, particularly those who stood out from the crowd, either as being more beautiful, or smarter; students from a lower caste; academically weaker students; and those who were physically different in some way. Reasons given as to why bullying occurred in Indian schools related to: environments which promoted and supported dominance of the weak by those more powerful; culturally specific songs and media which were aggressive; and a lack of recognition of it being a serious issue.
‘…she was an attractive girl, hence was eve-teased by school boys, and ignored by school girls’
‘…he belonged to a stigmatized social caste, hence he was ill-treated by everyone in school’
Teacher education was considered very important by all PSTs, to ‘ensure they are the first step in identifying…. And controlling school bullying’ (Indian PST). Discussion focuses on the unique contexts which each country brings, yet the commonalities found suggest there are benefits in highlighting the need for teacher education institutions to play an important preventative and intervention role in the regeneration of the teaching profession, and subsequently, in the safety of school children in their care and their right to an education free from fear and violence. Implications for the development of culturally relevant teaching practices, resources and strategies are considered.
Keywords: bullying, cyberbullying, Pre-service teachers, teachers, teacher education, Pre-service teachers, Training, Bullying, Cyberbullying, Australia, India, Cross-cultural analysis, Emic, Etic, Cultural context, Culture-specific, Culture-common, Capacity building, Universalist, Absolutist Relativist
JEL Classification: J1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation