Examples of Good Practice when Dealing withBullying in a Further/Higher Education College

GAVIN HUGHES

This qualitative study, conducted viainterviews, focuses on the strategies usedby tutors and support staff in dealing withbullying in an FE/HE college.This area isunder researched and yet studies haveshown that 10 per cent of students in FEexperience bullying (McDougall, 1999). Itwas found that bullying was being dealtwith effectively using a range ofapproaches. The examples of good practicefound in this study correspond with themore extensive work into primary andsecondary schools by Byrne (1994), Tattumand Herbert (1993) and Sharp and Smith(1993). All respondents treated the issueseriously and relationships built upbetween tutors/support staff and thestudents were the crucial factor.

Introduction

Most research into bullying focuses on primary andsecondary students (up to the age of sixteen). Afterwhich many reports suggest that 16±18-year-oldstudents will be able to deal with many issues thatarise without help (Fontaine, 1991; Sharp and Smith,1993; Mellor, 1993). However, previous studies havesuggested that 10 per cent of students in FE experi-ence bullying (McDougall, 1999). The response frommany colleges is similar to that of schools ten yearsago: they are likely to have a policy on bullying andharassment, but actual strategies for dealing with theproblem are often left to the discretion of tutors andsupport staff, with the assumption that they will dealwith things as they feel best. However, in the situationnow with funding directly linked to attendance andretention anything likely to have an adverse effect onthese will be seen as important.

Background to the Study

McDougall (1999) suggests the environments in FEcolleges are conducive to bullying. The following

factors can exacerbate the situation: larger classes;some staff without teacher training qualifications; awide spectrum of abilities; students with additionalneeds; more individual emphasis on students toorganize their own time in college and large repre-sentations of various ethnic minorities, which cancreate racial groupings and tension. West HertsCollege is typical of a large FE/HE college. It hasfour different sites and over 6,000 full-time equivalentstudents. It delivers a range of courses at many levels(NVQ levels 1 and 2, A levels, GNVQs, National/Higher National Diplomas and Degrees).

There have been incidents of bullying that havereached cross-college status, most notably one student,who had been excluded, coming back on site anddemanding money by menaces. But most incidencesare dealt with internally by each department. There isa procedure document for dealing with incidents ofharassment and bullying which at an informal levelsuggests the following: making it clear that the be-haviour is inappropriate; keeping a record of events;seeking support and advice; and mediation by a thirdparty. At the formal stage a complaint form has to befilled in, with a copy going to the alleged harasser,followed by an investigation by independent man-agers and student services resulting in a writtenreport and any necessary action.

However, there is little in the way of advice for thepractitioner in the classroom. It is likely that there ismuch in the way of good and sometimes bad practiceoccurring. This study was undertaken in an attempt tohighlight examples of the kinds of practice tutors andsupport staff have been using in order to combatbullying.

Objectives

The principal objective of this research was to look forexamples of good practice when dealing with bully-ing. It was intended to provide an understanding ofhow teachers and support staff deal with incidencesand individuals on a daily basis in the course of theirduties. This good practice was then to be dissemin-ated to staff with the aim of improving the qualityof experience for students and improving retentionrates.

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# NAPCE 2001. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA.

Method

Bullying as a subject allows the researcher to adoptany number of research strategies, such as: anonym-ous questionnaires; participant observation (Sten-house, 1985); and interviews with both staff andstudents. The choice of research strategy should bedetermined by the prime purpose of the research.As the aim of this research was to identify a varietyof responses to a complex problem, a qualitativeapproach seemed most appropriate. Quantitativeresearch can be described as too positivist and unableto explain human behaviour (although anonymousquestionnaires can be very useful in sensitive areassuch as bullying). The limitations of qualitativeresearch lie in the subjective interpretations (usuallyon a smaller and more focused area), which rely onthe personal qualities of the researcher. The qualita-tive researcher may often arrive at a theory as a resultof the data collected, rather than start with one whichthey aim to test. With this in mind open-ended inter-views with a sample of teaching staff/youth centreworkers and student services were set up. In allsixteen interviews were held.

The sample consisted of:

One student services counsellorOne technicianTwo youth centre workersOne professional skills managerTwo section managersNine tutors

Typical questions included the following: Have youhad any students who have experienced bullying (forexample, teasing, threats or exclusion from thegroup)? What happened? What did you do to tryto alleviate the problem? Was this course of actionsuccessful? Is there anything you do to combat inci-dents of bullying that you have found to be success-ful? The structure of each interview varied with somelasting longer than others, notes were taken instead oftape recordings. The style was intended to encouragetalk about the subject without seeking to makeaccusations or naming people involved. All weregiven assurances about confidentiality.

Main Findings

The open-ended interviews produced positive re-sponses which highlighted examples of practicewhich it was felt had been successful. Most of thoseinterviewed suggested that confronting issues such asname calling immediately in the classroom waspreferable to waiting until later. It was felt that anearly response could prevent a situation escalating.Alongside this, many highlighted the need to buildstrong relationships. Good communication betweenstaff and students was thought to be a positive factor.

The role of the student's tutor was felt to be crucial inthis matter. A good tutor would be able to understandthe student's emotions and make appropriate com-ments.

For some, being pro-active and moving teachinggroups for those affected by bullying worked, so thatthe parties involved did not have to attend the sameclasses. However, it was acknowledged that this onlyworked in some cases, whereas in others it may makea situation worse by drawing attention to it.

Informal chats were thought to be a good way ofdiffusing a situation before it escalated and requiredthe need for more formalized proceedings. Confront-ing the parties concerned and setting up a discussionwas used as a successful solution. However, it wasacknowledged that this requires sensitive handling.One successful method used by the student counsel-lor was mediation. In this case the counsellor wouldusually let each party speak uninterrupted, beforeinviting them to reach a consensus, often in the formof a written agreement. The written agreement wouldusually spell out how they would behave towardseach other in the future.

A common response was found concerning studentnicknames. Most staff agreed that they tried not to usenicknames when talking to the students unless theywere certain that the student did not mind. This wasacknowledged as a difficult area as it was felt somestudents may not openly object to a nickname to makeit less of an issue.

One area of classroom work thought to lead to a lot ofstudent arguments was that of group work. Often, itwas felt, students did not want to work with othermembers of the group they did not like. One tutormade a particular group, which was excluding others,include them in a project, so they had to get alongin order to produce the work (this was acknowledgedto be risky, but worked in this case). Another tutorsuggested that it was common practice across hisdepartment to choose all groups for the students, sothat any arguments about which students wanted towork together were dispelled at the start.

Most respondents highlighted students who weredifferent in some way. This difference was thought tobe a major cause of bullying. In these cases subtleways of making the class respect individuals and theirdifferences were employed. For example, in one casea student services counsellor decided to give a talkto a tutor group on relationships and friendships.This group had bullying trouble, but the counsellorthought it best not to talk directly about bullying,rather she talked about related areas. In this waythe group was encouraged to be positive about itsrelationships within the class without becomingdefensive about individual actions.

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Making sure the groups know the boundaries of be-haviour was another core theme. A leaflet on bullyingincluded in the student charter produced by thecollege was thought to be helpful. It was given to allstudents joining the college and the staff felt thatit summed up the college position clearly. However,some felt the leaflet did not go far enough to explainthe disciplinary action which could be taken.

One tutor suggested that once bullies were confrontedwith their actions, and made to realize the long-termeffects of what they were doing, they often put theirhands up and agreed not to continue. This seemedmost effective with students who perhaps did notrealize how serious overt bullying, such as `namecalling' could be.

A section manager highlighted the difficulty ingetting staff/victims to put complaints in writing,thus prolonging the process before formal procedurescould be employed. She suggested keeping earlyrecords of incidents to back up any later claims thatbullying was occurring.

One staff member suggested the need for tutortraining to help staff recognize and deal withbullying. All respondents were able to recall at leastone incident of bullying from the previous academicyear (1999/2000). Most respondents made referenceto students who were different in some way. Sevenrespondents described students who were immatureand provocative. Three recalled incidents of physicalbullying. One recalled a case where exclusion wasused as a last resort.

Discussion

The examples of potentially good practice found inthis study, correspond with the more extensive workinto primary and secondary schools by Byrne (1994),Tattum and Herbert (1993), Sharp and Smith (1993)and Olweus (1991). For example, Byrne suggests `thebasis of a good relationship is communication . . . weshould . . . endeavour to create an atmosphere wherethe child will speak openly' (Byrne, 1994, p. 80). Thiswas also a common theme with the respondents inthis study, many suggesting the most importantrelationship being that between the student and his/her tutor.

Delwyn Tattum and Graham Herbert (1993) in theiranalysis of school and local authority initiatives founda number of successful practices to counter bully-ing, some of which correspond with this study: stafftraining; counsellor provision; behaviour guidelinesfor the classroom; avoiding student nicknames;procedure policies; immediate action; informal dis-cussions and creating an environment not conduciveto bullying.

All respondents in this research showed a need totake this type of behaviour seriously. Most hadthought about it, but when implementing strategiesonly the section managers and student counsellorswere fully aware of the procedure document fordealing with incidents of harassment and bullying.All respondents could recall incidents of bullyingthat had occurred in the previous academic year1999±2000. Nearly all could pick one person out ofeach tutor group who was less popular, likely tobe excluded from groups and called names. Somementioned that this was likely to have an adverseeffect on attendance and retention. Although manycases were mentioned there was a positive outcome interms of behaviour and attendance.

Most respondents made reference to students thatwere different. Seven respondents described studentswhose behaviour was immature. This usually in-volved bragging to others in the class. Olweus (1991),Sharp and Smith (1993) called these provocativevictims and described them as students whosebehaviour is likely to provoke others in the class.

Three respondents recalled incidents of physicalbullying, which ranged from fights breaking out inthe classroom, to kicking and shoving. One respond-ent recalled an incident where exclusion was usedas a last resort. However, all, apart from one tutor,highlighted a case in which an incident of bullyinghad been dealt with successfully, suggesting thatgood practice is evident within the college.

Conclusions

This research has provided examples of potentiallygood practice when dealing with bullying. It hasshown that both teaching and support staff are usinga range of techniques to reduce its occurrence anddeal with its consequences. Many of the practices ithighlighted correspond with research from othersectors of education. Examples of good practice are:immediate action; good communication; informaldiscussions; mediation; giving a talk to a tutor group;trying not to use student nicknames; moving studentsto other teaching groups; choosing groups forstudents to work in; including students in groupswhich are excluding them; use of subtlety; puttingcomplaints into writing; making students aware oftheir actions; and making students aware of theboundaries of acceptable behaviour.

The information that has been collected could be usedin tutor training, Certification of Education training,staff development and policy documents.

It also highlights the need for further research. A lookat the possible causes from both a staff and studentperspective would seem most appropriate (and astatistical analysis to establish its prevalence).

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Limitations of the Study

The sample size of respondents was too small to allowgeneralizations about the whole college to be made.Sixteen respondents in all were interviewed which isa relatively small percentage of the college's overallteaching and support staff. The interviews varied foreach person concerned, some were asked questionsthat others were not. Some lasted longer than others.Using notes to record the answers of the interviewmay have led to errors.

There was no input from the students themselves inthis study. Time was the major factor in this decision.As a whole the study tends to look at the effects ofbullying rather than the causes. There is no indicationas to why any of this behaviour is occurring, whattypes are most common, where it may be occurringand the frequency of incidents reported by staff andstudents.

References

BYRNE, B. (1994) Coping with Bullying in Schools. London: Cassell.

FONTAINE, J. L. (1991) Bullying: The Child's View ± An Analysisof Telephone Calls about Bullying. London: Calouste GulbenkianFoundation.

MCDOUGALL, L. (1999) `A Study of Bullying in Further Education',Pastoral Care in Education June, pp. 31±7.

MELLOR, A. (1993) Bullying and How to Fight It: A Guide for Families.Scottish Council for Research Education.

OLWEUS, D. (1991) `Bully/Victim Problems Among School-children: Basic Facts and Effects of a School-based InterventionProgram', in D. Pepler and K. Rubin (eds), The Development andTreatment of Childhood Aggression. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

SHARP, S. and SMITH, P. K. (1993) The Sheffield Anti-bullying Project:Bullying ± Don't Suffer in Silence. London: Department ofEducation/HMSO.

STENHOUSE, L. (1985) `Curriculum Research, Artistry and Teach-ing', in Ruddock and Hopkins (eds), Research as a Basis for Teach-ing: Readings from the Work of Lawrence Stenhouse. London:Heinemann Educational.

TATTUM, D. and HERBERT, G. (1993) Countering Bullying.Initiatives by Schools and Local Authorities. London: TrenthamBooks Ltd.

CorrespondenceGavin Hughes16 Orchard WayRickmansworthHertsWD38 H2

13# NAPCE 2001.PASTORAL CARE ± SEPTEMBER 2001