Pre-Service Teachers’ Intervention in School Bullying Episodes with Special Education Needs Students: A Research in Italian and Greek Samples

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the level of self-confidence in dealing with problems at school, the attitude towards bullying situations and the recommended strategies to cope with bullying in two samples of pre-service teachers (PSTs). The PSTs were in training to become teachers with special education needs students (SEN) and came from two different countries (Italy and Greece). Methods: A questionnaire survey was made involving 110 Italian and 84 Greek PSTs. Results: The results about self-confidence showed that Greek PSTs had lower outcome expectations and a higher external locus of causality than Italian PSTs. Teachers’ training programs and school preventive intervention were also discussed. Conclusions: Because the participants in this investigation will be teachers in the near future, they require specific training on bullying in general and in students with SEN in particular.

Teachers’ Experiences With Difficult Bullying Situations in the School: An Explorative Study

“…Our findings showed that teachers who have little teaching experience seem to experience more difficulties than colleagues with more than 10 years of teaching experience. This finding is in line with findings of previous studies that novice teachers feel not well prepared to reduce school bullying (Begotti et al, 2018;Lester et al, 2018;Macaulay et al, 2019), and shows the specific circumstances in which these teachers experience these difficulties, such as identifying bullying incidents, estimating the seriousness of an incident, and in finding solutions together with parents. Also, our study showed that, overall, there was no link between the anti-bullying methods teachers used and the extent to which they experienced difficulties.…”

“…While previous research has indicated that teachers doubt their efficacy for handling bullying (Begotti et al, 2018;Lester et al, 2018;Macaulay et al, 2019), the current study provides a more in-depth look at the challenges teachers face that contribute to their feelings of low self-efficacy. Our findings indicate that teachers have difficulty identifying and estimating the seriousness of bullying situations, are in line with previous studies that showed teachers to feel inadequately prepared to handle a variety of bullying situations (Marshall, 2012;Oldenburg et al, 2016).…”

“…Studies in several countries have demonstrated that teachers who possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes, are more likely to intervene (Begotti, Tirassa, & Maran, 2018; Frisén, Hasselblad, & Holmqvist, 2012; Williford & Depaolis, 2016; Yoon & Bauman, 2014). Also, teachers who actively stand against bullying have been associated with lower levels of bullying in the classroom (Veenstra, Lindenberg, Huitsing, Sainio, & Salmivalli, 2014).…”

“…To provide teachers with better support, we need to know what obstacles teachers encounter in this area. Moreover, several studies have shown that novice teachers do not feel well prepared to reduce bullying effectively (Begotti et al, 2018; Lester, Waters, Pearce, Spears, & Falconer, 2018; Macaulay, Betts, Stiller, & Kellezi, 2019). Therefore, it is imperative to understand the particular challenges faced by less experienced teachers in order to provide them the additional training and support they need to combat bullying effectively.…”

Challenges and Opportunities of Anti-Bullying Intervention Programs

“…However, for interventions against school bullying, teachers clearly have a vital and leading role; usually, they are delivering the anti-bullying programs. Several contributions focus on the teacher’s role, including their attitude and confidence [14] and how their actions may be perceived by parents [15], or pupils [16]. One contribution [8] focusses on martial arts training, suggesting that traditional approaches focusing directly on bullying have had rather little success.…”