Perceptions of bullying: A comparison of pre-service and in-service teachers

Bullying continues to exist in schools and students want teachers to take an active role in prevention and intervention. Prior research has explored why teachers do not intervene in bullying, but a gap exists in the research in regard to how the personal characteristics of teachers are related to their approach to bullying. This research addresses this. Studies on the perspectives and characteristics of pre-service and in-service teachers were conducted. The research tested the hypothesis that certain characteristics of teachers will be related to teachers being more willing to intervene in bullying situations and be related to teachers' attitudes about bullying. It was determined that pre-service and in-service teachers differed in their attitudes and approaches to bullying. Pre-service teachers perceived bullying as more serious. Pre-service teachers tended to also rate themselves as more feminine than in-service teachers. Pre-service teachers also indicated that they were not prepared to handle bullying incidents, as they lacked confidence. Pre-service also had views that differed from in-service in regard to the school climate and environment and how bullying would be handled. There were some differences in thinking styles that predicted preferred interventions. Both types of teachers viewed physical bullying as more serious than relational aggression. Some differences existed in recognizing bullying in scenarios containing a student with a disability compared to a student without a disability. The results suggest that the ideal training for teachers in how to handle bullying may be training that is tailored specifically for the type of teacher (i.e. pre-service versus in-service).