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Comunicar Journal 56: Cyberbullying: the threat without a face (Vol. 26 - 2018)
Teachers’ and students’ perception about cyberbullying. Intervention and coping strategies in primary and secondary education
Ana-M. Giménez-Gualdo
Pilar Arnaiz-Sánchez
Fuensanta Cerezo-Ramírez
Elaine Prodócimo
Currently, schools face the challenge of dealing with the phenomena of cyberbullying, which is increasingly present among teenagers. This study analyses teachers’ and students’ perception of the problem, as well as the strategies that both groups use to avoid it. Its findings will allow advances in prevention and intervention in the schools. The study was conducted on 1704 primary and secondary school students and 238 teachers who completed questionnaires about cyberbullying. We used a cross-sectional descriptive method. Findings show significant differences in the motives teachers attributed to cyberbullying. These depend on the educational stage they work in, whereas, among students, it depends on the role they have in the cyberbullying: victim or aggressor. We also find differences in the intervention strategies used by teachers, depending on the type of school, educational stage, and gender. Those used the most are communicating, mediating and seeking help. For students, the predominate strategies are avoidance, protection, and reporting. Schoolchildren, in general, show little confidence in their teachers' ability to solve the problem of cyberbullying. The study highlights the importance of training teachers and providing them with action models when faced with this issue, and it points out the necessity of coordinating the efforts of both teachers and students.
Keywords
Cyberbullying, perception, teachers, students, intervention strategies, coping strategies, primary education, secondary education