How the Education Community Perceives Cyberbullying: a Comparison of Students, Teachers and Families

Abstract

This study aims to find out how the groups that form the education community (students, teachers, families) differ in terms of the various characteristics surrounding the cyberbullying phenomenon. To do this, we conducted research using a selective correlational and cross-sectional design to analyze relationships and differences among variables: defining cyberbullying, typology, involved roles, possible causes and coping strategies in the different groups. The study recruited 116 participants as follows: 51% were year-6 Primary Education students; 29% were students’ family members; 20% were school teachers. We collected data through an ad hoc questionnaire that a group of experts had previously validated. The results of the data analysis showed that significant differences appeared in terms of: how typologies were perceived; the importance of roles; coping strategies for cyberbullying.

“It is Typical of Teenagers”: When Teachers Morally Disengage from Cyberbullying

“…Thereby, it is relevant for teachers to develop accurate knowledge about the severity and impact of cyberbullying behavior, which they can also share with their students. In accordance, erroneous beliefs about cyberbullying behavior could be attributed to the lack of knowledge about the phenomenon (Bautista Alcaine & Vicente Sánchez, 2020).…”

“…However, they tend to overlook other key defining features, such as repetition of behavior, as well as an imbalance in power between victim and aggressor (Compton et al, 2014; Macaulay et al, 2019). Moreover, teachers seem to disregard specific cyberbullying behavior, such as social exclusion and harassment (Bautista Alcaine & Vicente Sánchez, 2020). Furthermore, they also tend to show difficulty in differentiating cyberbullying from other types of behavior.…”

“…Knowing how to deal with cyberbullying has also been a focus of recent research, which has revealed imprecise results specifically concerning the type of strategies perceived by teachers as effective for students to deal with cyberbullying. It remains unclear which strategies they are more inclined to favor, such as more technical strategies (e.g., changing email and passwords) or strategies focusing on seeking help and/or reporting the incident (e.g., telling a family member) (Bautista Alcaine & Vicente Sánchez, 2020; Ozansoy et al, 2018). Moreover, a systematic review about teachers’ perceptions and responses towards cyberbullying (Macaulay et al, 2018) concluded that, teachers generally considered cyberbullying as a school problem, but their knowledge about effective strategies was inconsistent, and they did not believe in their ability to identify and deal with the phenomenon.…”

“…Specifically, teachers seem to deal with cyberbullying according to the severity they attribute to a particular situation (Macaulay et al, 2021). Hence, if teachers minimize the severity of cyberbullying, for instance, due to erroneous beliefs they may have about the phenomenon (Bautista Alcaine & Vicente Sánchez, 2020), this can lead them more easily not to intervene when necessary. In this regard, we also propose to investigate the relation between teachers’ awareness and knowledge about cyberbullying with their perceived severity of the phenomenon.…”

Bullying and Cyberbullying: A Legal and Public Policy Perspective in Colombia

“…It is all conducted in the face of the indifference, silence, and complicity of other colleagues. The abused victim remains emotionally in the hands of the aggressor, who generates severe consequences in a minor who has not yet forged his personality (Alcaine & Sánchez, 2020). Guinot (2013) specifies the type of violence contained in the bullying as follow:…”