‘Bullying, Law and Pre-service Teachers’ Perspectives Australian and Indian Contexts’ Authors: Colette Langos, Barbara Spears, Carmel Taddeo, Lesley-Anne Ey, Toby Carslake, Alexander Stretton, Damanjit Sandhu and Suresh Sundaram
‘Bullying, Law and Pre-service Teachers’ Perspectives Australian and Indian 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, Australian and Indian P
Posted: 2 Oct 2018 Last revised: 2 Feb 2019
Date Written: September 24, 2018
Abstract
Teachers are placed in a special position of power and care over schoolchildren and students in higher education contexts. It is, therefore, imperative that teachers and pre-service teachers (PSTs) acquire skills which enable them to support children who may be exposed to bullying/cyberbullying and understand the laws which govern these behaviours. This chapter examined existing statutes and relevant jurisprudence in relation to bullying, cyberbullying and other culturally relevant behaviours, such as ragging and Eve teasing in both India and Australia. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, Indian and Australian PSTs knowledge of relevant laws was explored. Findings suggest that PSTs in both contexts clearly need to engage more with the legal frameworks in place so that they can enhance their capacity to successfully intervene and provide accurate information when they move out into schools as graduate teachers, to be able to make informed decisions about appropriate disciplinary action and when the matter should be reported to the police for investigation, and to provide some initial guidance as to where victims in their care may be able to seek external assistance.
Keywords: Cyberbullying, Teachers and the Law, Pre-service teachers, Pre-service teachers’ perspectives Pre-service teachers’ knowledge India, Australia, Law bullying, Legal Approaches, Legal contexts, Ragging, Eve Teasing, Criminal responsibility, Negligence Defamation, Tort Law, eSafety Commission
JEL Classification: K1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation