Abstract
For my research project, I decided to look at bullying, which is a contempery issue as over recent months it has received a lot of media attention. My hypothesis was bullying is spiralling out of control. I used a wide range of research methods using both primary and secondary sources of information including questionnaires, interviews and internet research. I also considered ethical issues and problems this research may of encountered
Introduction
I have decided to do my research topic on bullying. Over recent months bullying has received a lot more media attention for a number of different reasons. One reason is the new form of bullying called Happy Slapping. This is whereby bullies record their victims being physically abused on their mobile phones. Also many serious incidents of bullying taking place such as 15 year old Natasha Jackman who was recently stabbed in her eye, back , head and chest in her school dinner queue. In July of this year the beat bullying campaign was launched, fronted by many famous stars. Bullying was defined as 'longstanding violence, mental or physical, conducted by an individual or a group against an individual who Is not able to defend himself or herself in that actual situation'.
I wish to find out if bullying is spiralling out of control or that people are becoming more aware of how common bullying is.
I plan to use a wide range of research methods including both primary and secondary sources. One method I will be using is questionnaires. I will give these to children in year 6 and adults between the age of 40-55 to find out their views on bullying. I will also interview a head teacher of a school to find out her views and I will also interview a primary school teacher. I will use a unstructured format to help me get more information. I will also ask in the interviews about how the schools deals with bullying and if they think bullying is getting worse or society is becoming more aware of it. Secondary methods I will use are internet and newspapers.
I will consider any ethical issues that I may come across and try to avoid them by using the appropriate methods. One ethical issue I need to consider is confidentiality of the respondents. Also I need to be aware of emotional damage respondents may have and always be considerate. I will also get full consent from participants to carry out my research and debrief them fully.
Literature review
Over recent months bullying has been increasingly talked about in the media. Sports stars Kelly Holmes and Rio Ferdinand are among the Celebes who have signed up to the beat bullying campaign to try and tackle bullying in schools. Around one in four primary school children and around one in three secondary school children are bullied at some point in their school life according to official estimates.
Children were encouraged to wear a blue wristband as a sign of solidarity. The campaign encouraged children to talk about their bullying problems and to remember their not alone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ni/programmes/breakfast
There has also been research done to find statistics about the issue. The NSPCC published a list of key findings. They found 31% of children experienced bullying during childhood, a further 7% were discriminated against and 14% were made to feel different. A quarter of young adults bullied by their peers during childhood reported they suffered long term harmful effects as a result. Also research involving2300 pupils aged 10-14 from schools across England found 30% of children did not tell anyone that they had been bullied. This percentage was higher for boys and older children.
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/statistics/keycpstats/asp
Sonia sharp, an expert on bullying, said in a speech some interesting findings.
Between 15 and 25 children every year commit suicide because they are being bullied
Around 10% of children have missed school because of the violence
Up to 40% of secondary school students feel that their teachers are unaware of the bullying which goes on
http://www.coastkid.org/si-sob.html
Warrington borough council released a fact sheet to help the victims and schools. They say bullying can include a number of different things:-
Physical abuse
Kicking, hitting, poking
Pushing
Name calling, mocking, sarcasm
Teasing and taunting
Leaving people out of games
Racial, religious, sexual harassment
Spreading rumours
Blackmail
If you are being bullied you should ask for help. This is a sensible thing to do. They could tell:-
A friend you trust
Your parents
Form teacher
Senior staff at school
We are all at risk of being bullied, adults and children. It doesn't matter what age people are, usually people who are being bullied are younger, weaker or in a group smaller than the bullies group. A bully may seem to be your friend but real friends don't put pressure on you or put you down.
http:/www.warrington.gov.uk/learning/law/attendence/bullying.asp
Childline was an organised charity set up in the late 1980s to help children with any problems they maybe having or just someone to talk to on the other end of the phone confidentially. They regularly do summaries each year on particular subjects such as bullying to show their key findings. Last year they set up a report on the effects of bullying on a child. Over half of secondary and primary school pupils thought bullying was a big problem. Also just over half of year 5 pupils reported they were bullied during term time compared to just over a quarter of year 8 pupils.
For the past three years childline has produced annual reports on what has happened over the year. In 2002 bullying was the subject that most children called them about. A total of 15,168 girls rang (17% of their overall total) and 4815 boys rang ( 18% of their overall total). The total was 19,983 and 18% of the overall total of what the children rang for. In 2003 bullying was again the subject that most of the children called them about. 16,533 girls called which was 18% of their total and 5,333 boys rang which was 20% of their overall total. The total was 21,866 children calling which was 18%. In 2004 bullying was again the topic that most children talked about. 23,436 girls called about it and 7,641 boys called about giving a total of 31,077 which was 22% of the overall calls. Each year there was a significant rise in the number off calls to childline about bullying.
www.childline.org.uk/pdf/bullysum.pdf
Warrington borough council also produced a guidance for producing a whole school anti bullying policy. It gives information to schools, including analysis, dissemination and specific anti bullying strategies make a difference. Where schools face up to bullying and develop[ ways of minimising it by involving pupils, staff, parents and governors they can help pupils to manage relationships and behaviour productively. In December 2000 the DfES published an anti-bullying pack, Don't suffer in silence, giving helpful guidance to schools in establishing a whole school policy in four stages:-
For my research project, I decided to look at bullying, which is a contempery issue as over recent months it has received a lot of media attention. My hypothesis was bullying is spiralling out of control. I used a wide range of research methods using both primary and secondary sources of information including questionnaires, interviews and internet research. I also considered ethical issues and problems this research may of encountered
Introduction
I have decided to do my research topic on bullying. Over recent months bullying has received a lot more media attention for a number of different reasons. One reason is the new form of bullying called Happy Slapping. This is whereby bullies record their victims being physically abused on their mobile phones. Also many serious incidents of bullying taking place such as 15 year old Natasha Jackman who was recently stabbed in her eye, back , head and chest in her school dinner queue. In July of this year the beat bullying campaign was launched, fronted by many famous stars. Bullying was defined as 'longstanding violence, mental or physical, conducted by an individual or a group against an individual who Is not able to defend himself or herself in that actual situation'.
I wish to find out if bullying is spiralling out of control or that people are becoming more aware of how common bullying is.
I plan to use a wide range of research methods including both primary and secondary sources. One method I will be using is questionnaires. I will give these to children in year 6 and adults between the age of 40-55 to find out their views on bullying. I will also interview a head teacher of a school to find out her views and I will also interview a primary school teacher. I will use a unstructured format to help me get more information. I will also ask in the interviews about how the schools deals with bullying and if they think bullying is getting worse or society is becoming more aware of it. Secondary methods I will use are internet and newspapers.
I will consider any ethical issues that I may come across and try to avoid them by using the appropriate methods. One ethical issue I need to consider is confidentiality of the respondents. Also I need to be aware of emotional damage respondents may have and always be considerate. I will also get full consent from participants to carry out my research and debrief them fully.
Literature review
Over recent months bullying has been increasingly talked about in the media. Sports stars Kelly Holmes and Rio Ferdinand are among the Celebes who have signed up to the beat bullying campaign to try and tackle bullying in schools. Around one in four primary school children and around one in three secondary school children are bullied at some point in their school life according to official estimates.
Children were encouraged to wear a blue wristband as a sign of solidarity. The campaign encouraged children to talk about their bullying problems and to remember their not alone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ni/programmes/breakfast
There has also been research done to find statistics about the issue. The NSPCC published a list of key findings. They found 31% of children experienced bullying during childhood, a further 7% were discriminated against and 14% were made to feel different. A quarter of young adults bullied by their peers during childhood reported they suffered long term harmful effects as a result. Also research involving2300 pupils aged 10-14 from schools across England found 30% of children did not tell anyone that they had been bullied. This percentage was higher for boys and older children.
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/statistics/keycpstats/asp
Sonia sharp, an expert on bullying, said in a speech some interesting findings.
Between 15 and 25 children every year commit suicide because they are being bullied
Around 10% of children have missed school because of the violence
Up to 40% of secondary school students feel that their teachers are unaware of the bullying which goes on
http://www.coastkid.org/si-sob.html
Warrington borough council released a fact sheet to help the victims and schools. They say bullying can include a number of different things:-
Physical abuse
Kicking, hitting, poking
Pushing
Name calling, mocking, sarcasm
Teasing and taunting
Leaving people out of games
Racial, religious, sexual harassment
Spreading rumours
Blackmail
If you are being bullied you should ask for help. This is a sensible thing to do. They could tell:-
A friend you trust
Your parents
Form teacher
Senior staff at school
We are all at risk of being bullied, adults and children. It doesn't matter what age people are, usually people who are being bullied are younger, weaker or in a group smaller than the bullies group. A bully may seem to be your friend but real friends don't put pressure on you or put you down.
http:/www.warrington.gov.uk/learning/law/attendence/bullying.asp
Childline was an organised charity set up in the late 1980s to help children with any problems they maybe having or just someone to talk to on the other end of the phone confidentially. They regularly do summaries each year on particular subjects such as bullying to show their key findings. Last year they set up a report on the effects of bullying on a child. Over half of secondary and primary school pupils thought bullying was a big problem. Also just over half of year 5 pupils reported they were bullied during term time compared to just over a quarter of year 8 pupils.
For the past three years childline has produced annual reports on what has happened over the year. In 2002 bullying was the subject that most children called them about. A total of 15,168 girls rang (17% of their overall total) and 4815 boys rang ( 18% of their overall total). The total was 19,983 and 18% of the overall total of what the children rang for. In 2003 bullying was again the subject that most of the children called them about. 16,533 girls called which was 18% of their total and 5,333 boys rang which was 20% of their overall total. The total was 21,866 children calling which was 18%. In 2004 bullying was again the topic that most children talked about. 23,436 girls called about it and 7,641 boys called about giving a total of 31,077 which was 22% of the overall calls. Each year there was a significant rise in the number off calls to childline about bullying.
www.childline.org.uk/pdf/bullysum.pdf
Warrington borough council also produced a guidance for producing a whole school anti bullying policy. It gives information to schools, including analysis, dissemination and specific anti bullying strategies make a difference. Where schools face up to bullying and develop[ ways of minimising it by involving pupils, staff, parents and governors they can help pupils to manage relationships and behaviour productively. In December 2000 the DfES published an anti-bullying pack, Don't suffer in silence, giving helpful guidance to schools in establishing a whole school policy in four stages:-
