‘It is hard to establish boundaries’: Pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of blurred lines between banter and bullying in secondary physical education

Abstract

This article examines pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of blurred boundaries between banter and bullying in secondary physical education (PE) in England. Focus on this topic is timely amid policymaker concerns regarding young people's banter escalating into bullying, or bullying being downplayed as banter within educational and sporting environments. Perceptions were gained through 14 focus groups with 49 pupils and nine interviews with PE teachers, which were thematically analysed using the concepts of figuration and power relations ( Elias, 1978 ). Whilst pupils conceptually distinguished banter from bullying, differentiating between the two in practice proved difficult during PE lessons. Difficulty was premised on subjective evaluations of performance-related comments concerning who was involved, the intention behind comments and how they were received, and if comments were considered humorous or harmful. Within the PE figuration, sporting competence proved a key power resource, resulting in humorously framed performance-related comments illuminating and heightening power imbalances between sporty and less sporty pupils. Given these pupil power dynamics and how performance-related comments were construed by some as banter and others as bullying, PE teachers should regularly remind pupils of conceptual differences between banter and bullying, set clear behavioural expectations, and consistently regulate borderline banter.