| Bullying is a critical public health and education problem adversely impacting the health, development, and learning of our nation's youth. Yet, bullying prevention has not been an integral part of education reform efforts or professional preparation. Anecdotal evidence and available research suggests that most teachers are not well-prepared to prevent or to reduce these insidious harmful behaviors. To date, there is a paucity of research on teacher preparedness as it relates to bullying. This study aims to measure middle school teachers' preparedness to prevent, to identify, and to respond effectively to bullying. This study entails a quantitative design, using cross-sectional data collected from a pilot-tested and validated survey. The survey items epitomize predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors drawn from the PRECEDE theoretical model.;The results suggest teachers: 1) witness overt types of bullying more often than covert bullying; 2) report lower levels of self-efficacy to teach students about appreciating and respecting individual sexual preferences and to work with the students involved in bullying incidents and their parents; 3) need more preparation and support to handle cyber-bullying and to communicate with the parents of youth involved in bullying situations, 4) feel more prepared to intervene when bullying situations involve one bully versus a group of bullies, and 5) have inconsistent knowledge of school policies and programs. Additionally, the majority of teachers expressed interest in professional development to address bullying. The implications of this study include: 1) federal, state, and local policy changes to address bullying, 2) the implementation of bullying prevention to pre- and in-service teacher preparation, and 3) safer schools. |
