Teachers’ Recognition of School Bullying According to Background Variables and Type of Bullying

Abstract

How teachers identify and judge school bullying may affect their willingness to intervene in bullying situations and influence their strategies for doing so. This study aimed to investigate whether there were significant differences in teachers’ identification of bullying incidents according to background variables (gender, teaching experience, and education level). The participants of this study were 150 primary school and middle school teachers in Taiwan, A 24-item Recognition of Bullying Incidents Questionnaire (RBIQ) was used in this study to explore whether teachers can identify physical, verbal, and relational scenarios as bullying or non-bullying incidents. A mixed-model two way ANOVA was used to analyze this data. Results revealed that teachers’ teaching experiences significantly interacted with behavioral types, and teachers’ education levels also significantly interacted with behavioral types. In addition, no gender differences in the identification of bullying were observed. Overall, teachers were more likely to identify physical bullying incidents than relational ones. The results of this study suggest that teachers should participate in training to help them identify bullying incidents, particularly when these involve relational bullying.