Introduction
School bullying is a social and public issue among many adolescent students. It is a persistent and general threat to the success and health of learners. School bullying is referred to as undesirable aggressive behaviors sanctioned deliberately over the period by a learner or a set of learners using some control to result in psychological or physical injury to other students in school background. School bullying is prevented among students in China (Wang et al., 2012). Among the students involving in the bullying dynamic, those who suffer most are the ones who are victimized. Victims of school bullying are unhappy and feel unsafe in school, leading to academic difficulties, absenteeism, and school disengagement (Smith et al., 2008). Being bullied at school also results in mental health issues, including psychotic symptoms, psychosomatic problems, suicidal behavior and ideation, depression, and anxiety (Hong et al., 2016).
Recently, policymaking and the public have been concerned about bullying in schools. There are policies established to reduce school victimization, but teachers' policy employment is a significant, complex, and challenging practice (Hall & Chapman, 2018). The policies describe bullying as intentional, hostile, and harmful actions among learners. School bullying can involve many forms; physical, sexual, relational or social, and verbal, and the policies are engaged by a massive collection of people, actions, organizational structures, and resources. The implementation of the policies is done by school personnel, administration officials, and students. A high level of fidelity in the performance allows the policy intervention or program to attain its intended impacts (Hall, 2017).
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Background
The study aims at understanding the perspectives of teachers on school bullying policies in China. It also aims to find further work that school leaders require to implement the school bullying policies. The research will focus on primary school teachers. Having learned about school bullying policies, I determined the need for this research. The research participants will be primary school teachers who have experienced implementing school bullying policies in their institutions. The study will involve 11 participants from different regions in China. It used a mixed method of data collection. The first method of data collection will be the use of questionnaires. The second phase involves interviews with the participants at the school.
Literature Review
School bullying has been in progress for a long time, and it is a global problem. Wang et al. (2012) argued that many students took part in bullying behaviors, and many students were victims of bullying. According to the study, some of the factors associated with bullying behaviors include involvement in a physical fight, periods spent online, fleeing from home, suicide consideration, parental care, and grade. Some risk factors for school bullying are poor emotional management, alcohol use, poor relationships, and parental neglect (Qian, 2020). It also argued that effective programs and policies need to consider personal characteristics to create efficient programs to prevent school bullying. Hong et al. (2016) found that there is an interrelation between bullying and depression. The research also argued a strong link between suicidal ideation and perpetration in learners with depression and a weak association between suicidal ideation and victimization among learners with depression. It can be seen that the development of school bullying is prevented in institutions (Hong et al., 2016). There is co-occurrence among the various types of bullying and males; students from poor backgrounds, rural areas, and middle school were more likely to undergo school bullying (Wei et al., 2019).
Zhou et al. (2015) researched whether institute bullying affects sleep quality among learners in China. The findings indicate that prevalent school bullying could be a threat to sleep quality in teenagers in China. In U.S. Hall & Chapman (2018) systematically analyzed the school context's role in executing a national anti-bullying strategy to protect students. School administrators rated fidelity of strategy implementation and shield of learners greater than educators, student service authorities, and education support professionals (Hall & Chapman, 2018). Han et al. (2017) studied vocational, high, middle, and primary school students in urban China. The findings implied the importance of school climate in preventing school bullying and violence, and there is a need for an involvement approach in the whole school for future intervention. Beyond that, Zhang et al. (2019) realized a necessity to incorporate self-compassion and hope in mental health intervention and prevention programs aiming at left-behind children who have experienced bullying victimization.
However, some scholars argue that there is not enough research on the implementation of school bullying policies. According to the above finding, school leaders confirm the proper implementation of the procedures (Hall & Chapman, 2018). Students, teachers, and other education support staff lowly rated the implementation of the school bullying policies. In China, several factors such as gender, family background, and origin (Wei et al., 2019) are linked to school bullying that might hinder the policies' implementation. School administrators and other school personnel might have a tough and challenging time implementing the school bullying policies. Additionally, some personal issues such as emotional control and management, depression, and parental relationships that trigger bullying involvement might not be easy to understand (Qian, 2020). Students with such individual problems might have a hard time abiding by the policies.
Primary school teacher's perspectives on school bullying policies have not been well studied, particularly in China. Kathy Bickmore (2011) examined whether anti-bullying policies and programs enhance peacebuilding in schools. The research demonstrated that the policies increase peace in schools as all members adopt the new norms. Hall (2017) systematically reviewed the efficiency of policy involvements on victimization in schools. The study's findings demonstrated that school bullying procedures could be efficient at decreasing the behavior if their context is centered on sound theory and evidence and where there is a high degree of fidelity in their implementation. A few researchers focus on the perspectives of teachers who have been involved in school bullying, especially in secondary schools, and further work that school leaders require in China. Therefore, the previous literature gap is about the perspective of primary school teachers on school bullying policies in China.
Research Questions
What are the perspectives of primary school teachers on the current school bullying policies?
What further work on school bullying policies is required by school leaders in China?
Research Design and Methodology
The research will be an exploratory study to understand better school bullying policies from primary school teachers' perspectives. The researcher will use a mixed-method to conduct this study centered on the research questions. A perspective is a way that a person looks at something. There might be different perspectives from the teachers based on their experiences with the policies. Based on the participant's view and experiences, it is hard to replace the information with numbers based on the complexity, diversity, and subjectivity of the participant's view and experiences. A qualitative method provides flexibility and values subjectivity (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Therefore, the dominant research method in the exploratory study will be qualitative. The researcher can also get more in-depth and detailed data that suits the experimental study by using the qualitative method (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Besides that, the method will also help get a general knowledge of the research questions, which is appropriate for me to outline the topic and make better preparations for the research. The quantitative method is suitable to collect numerical information (Aliaga & Gunderson, 2000). The study will use the technique to gather numerical data about the teachers' region, age, and gender. The exploratory research will involve two phases with the two methods and the multiple data needed. Therefore, the study will use a mixed method because it is appropriate when using multiple phases to explore issues (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). The research method also multiple approached to analyze data and draw conclusions (Bazeley, 2017).
Methods of Data Collection
At the initial phase, the researcher will send a questionnaire to all the institution's primary school teachers. The first objective of this phase is to help teachers build an understanding of the research. Due to the potential of open questions to get detailed responses (Gray, 2004), the study will openly ask, "what is your understanding of the school bullying policies in place." It will get a general knowledge of the participant's perspective from the open question's different responses. This portion of the questionnaire results can also assist me in creating interview questions for my qualitative research. By reviewing the teachers' reactions towards the open question, the researcher can guess their interest in research so that they can select the candidates who appear to be more willing to tell stories. The study can also choose samples from different genders to support my second research by analyzing the participants' personal information. In this questionnaire, the researcher will ask about the availability of the participants for the interview.
In the second phase, the study will use a purposive sampling strategy to choose participants from a different regions, gender, and age groups. The design is appropriate for selecting participants with specific features to support responding to the research questions (Ritchie et al., 2014). Qualitative research's sample size is often small because large samples might be challenging to conduct a comprehensive study (Ritchie et al., 2014). Therefore, eleven teachers will be selected for the interviews. The participants will be five females and six females aged between 28 to 55 years. To enhance diversity, the researcher will choose teachers from different regions of China. The study will use semi-structured interview questions. They are flexible to cover particular topics and get personal stories from the participants (Rabionet, 2011). The interviewer will conduct face-to-face interviews at the institution to make the participants feel safe and comfortable.
Data Analysis
This study will use thematic analysis to analyze the data collected in the interviews. It is a suitable method for finding patterns in data and giving rich details (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The thematic analysis counts words or phrases in a text and identifies the primary declaration and clear ideas in the data (Guest et al., 2012). First, the researcher will familiarize themselves with the data by making translations of the interview recordings into a transcribed document. They will read the repeated transcribes and note their ideas down. The study will then use Word to code the information to generate meaningful groups as it combines various codes into potential themes and review them. When defining themes, the study will combine the participants' personal details to deeply analyze the themes and attempt to get patterns by analyzing the participants' distribution, frequency, and saliency on the themes. It will select a few extracts to demonstrate their points at the reporting phase best.
Ethical Issues
The researcher will first get the IRB approval before starting the process of collecting data. To pledge the research participants' right, the researcher will send the consent forms together with the questionnaire to inform them of the objective of the research, possible use of their data, and their constitutional rights to volunteer in the study. The interviewer will record the interviews using an ethical recording gadget. The researcher will guarantee the teachers' confidentiality by retaining their participation as a secret and replacing all personal information with codes. After the completion of the dissertation process, the researcher will delete and safely store the data.
Research Timeline
| Date | Task |
| 20th May |
Complete and submit ethics application and dissertation proposal |
| 25th May- June 1st | Submit draft of the literature review |
| June 5th – June 6th | Conduct pilot interviews and modify interview questions |
| June 7rd – June 12th | Discuss the literature review, questionnaires, and questionnaires design with the supervisor |
| June 13th - June 18th | Conduct first phase research |
|
June 19th – June 26th |
Review the collected data |
| June 27th – July 5th | Create interview questions and discuss them with the supervisor |
| July 6th – July 14th | Conduct recorded interview. Transcribe the interview into written document |
| July 15th – July 22nd | Analyze the primary data |
| July 23rd – July 29th | Write thematic analysis |
| July 30th – August 6th | Write research methodology, introduction, and conclusion |
| August 7th – August 11th | Write introduction |
| August 12th – August 16th | Write conclusion |
| August 17th – August 20th | List references and appendix. Complete dissertation draft |
| August 21st – August 24rd | Examining, proofreading, and finalizing dissertation draft. Check similarity to avoid plagiarism |
| August 25th – August 27th | Submit the dissertation draft |
| August 28th – September 1st | Draft discussion with the supervisor |
| September 2nd – September 6th | Finish writing dissertation |
| September 7th – September 10th | Submit the dissertation |
The Reflective Commentary
All students are aware that school bullying is an unwanted behavior and that policies exist to prevent the acts. On a daily school routine, students can realize instances of bullying, whether as onlookers or victims. Students who bully others at school are therefore punished according to the policies put in place. After a literature review, there are many research pieces about the risk factors that trigger school bullying activities and experiences of students about the persistent behavior. However, very few scholars pay attention to implementing the school bullying policies and their efficiency in preventing bullying. Therefore, one can realize the gap in teachers' perspectives regarding the school bullying policies and the work that school leaders need to improve on implementing the guidelines.
The research has various strengths and limitations. First, on the strengths, there is an efficient introduction to the school bullying policies as it establishes the importance of the study about school bullying policies. It gives a good summary of what people know regarding the research topic and clarifies the study's objective. The study's literature review provides some noble synthesis of many sources as it pinpoints primary debates, findings, and research gaps about school bullying policies. The arrangement of the historical study is outlined logically. Besides, the research questions are closely related to the research gap and individual experiences. The research methods and design offer some justification of the methodology selected. The study notes that school bullying policies are implemented in all schools, and multiple contexts are used to explore the broad problem. The timeline also shows proper awareness of managing time in dissertation writing.
On the other hand, there are a few limitations in the research. A qualitative study cannot demonstrate overall perspectives across the population; thus, there will be a generalization of the results. It is evident that the perspectives of 11 participants cannot be considered representative of most primary school teachers in China. Teacher's reactions are based on personal views concerning the policies, and they could be prejudiced (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Furthermore, this study's participants could be teachers in a school where the school bullying policies are appropriately implemented. The perspectives might vary in a different school. Moreover, the research should focus on encounters of convenience sampling. Research participants tend to change their practice and mind, resulting in a set of self-contradictory and confusing things (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The participants are also likely to conceal their actual thoughts due to their relationship with the interviewer. Also, a video-recorded interview might appear somewhat uncomfortable (Braun & Clarke, 2013), so the interviewer needs strong communication skills.
These strategies will be undertaken to enhance reliability. First, the research will employ pilot testing before commencing data collection. Pilot testing reinforces the study's reliability and validity (Creswell & Plano, 2018). It will involve a brief face-to-face interview with a few teachers asking their understanding of the questions reflected in the study questions. Then, the researcher will modify the interview and questionnaire questions to enhance reliability. At the beginning of the questionnaire and interview, the research will provide the meaning of "school bullying policy" because the participants might have a different understanding of the problem. The interview will avoid supposed prejudice and leading questions to reinforce dependability on the interviewee during the interviews.
Software for data analysis will be used to help in thematic data analysis. The research requires faithful working and writing to promote reliability and make the research finding go past the expectations. Moreover, the results will be appropriately recorded and retained independently. Although subjectivity might not be avoided in mixed research, a reflection of the research design's suitability and data collection and analysis procedures contributes to excellent mixed research (Creswell & Plano). Additionally, a review can be considered part of quality control in a qualitative study (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Most researchers suggest that the interview questions should be closely related to the research questions to increase validity. Moreover, the topics and themes of the interview and questionnaire should be linked to the research questions. The study's questionnaire and interview questions will have a close relationship with the research questions.
Additionally, the study will use more measures to increase validity. When selecting participants, the research will choose teachers from different regions, gender, and age. Besides that, the study will use verbatim to make the written document from the oral recorded interview. Using verbatim descriptions to transform conversations can improve validity (Creswell & Plano, 2018). Besides that, when writing the conclusion, the research will provide detailed descriptions of the research context. The research will also report any uncertainty justly to let the readers get helpful information to consider the dissertation's transferability. The study will also employ a language that all participants understand. However, the researcher's perspectives and personal identity could lead to the issue of unreliability. Their school bullying experiences might influence their perspectives on the policies that had been implemented. Using the researcher's perspectives on the study could lead to bias and reduce the research's reliability (Creswell & Plano, 2018). The researcher will disclose their experience and potential bias to deal with untrustworthiness and help the reader recognize the potential limitations. Moreover, the interview questions will be designed based on the first phase's data rather than assumptions and personal experiences. The interviewer will place their story aside and best play the objective role allocated.
The study will use a wide range of principles to enhance trustworthiness. Arguments in the literature review will be supported by evidence. The study will avoid personal opinions in writing. Ethical issues will be focused on the research design and methodology, data collection, storage, and sharing of data (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The research will adhere to university rules and follow the procedures of ethics provided. The researcher will consult with the supervisor when facing challenges in the study rather than taking a personal option. The study will present enough details on the methodology, and the rationale of each method will have clear explanations. The findings will be based on primary data instead of individual opinions and assumptions. The detailed data analysis will handle the study objectives and research questions, and the study will not exaggerate the discussion claims and conclusions. Finally, any advice or recommendations on this research will be cautious to avoid bold assumptions.
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