The Effectiveness of Training Aimed at Reducing Bullying in Temirtau City

Abstract

Bullying is an arrogant, abusive behaviour, aggressive harassment of one of the members of the collective (school, student or professional) from the rest of the collective members or part of it. Many are aware of its existence, and when faced with it, not everyone is trying to take action. However, few people know how much suffering children experience violence in schools. In Kazakhstan, according to a 2011 study by UNICEF, 66.2% of Kazakhstani schoolchildren experienced school violence, 63.6% of them as witnesses, 44.7% as victims, and 24,2% admitted to committing violent acts. A second study from UNICEF in 2013 found that two out of three students who participated in the questionnaire experienced discrimination and school violence.

As mentioned above, not only Kazakhstan but the whole world is faced with the problem of bullying. Solving this problem requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including the government or Ministry of Education, the school administration, teachers, parents and students. In this regard, our country has launched anti-bullying programs and conducted training on the topic. However, how effective are the measures taken to prevent bullying? The purpose of this study has been to examine the perceptions and opinions of teachers - psychologists about the effectiveness of the training, which is aimed at preventing bullying. The effectiveness of the training was measured by using the teacher-psychologists feedback and opinions through the conceptual framework of the Kirkpatrick’s Training Evaluation Model. This qualitative study with semi-structured interviews contain four main research questions which are: To what extent do teacher-psychologiests' believe the training is effective? How do teacher-psychologiests' believe the training has affected their practice? Are there any challenges that the training does not address? 4. How do teacher-psychologiests' think the training can be improved?

An analysis of the data thought Kirkpatriks’ model showed that the participants react positively to the training and they began to put the acquired knowledge into practice. This study also made some key findings. First, before the start of the training, many participants did not know what bullying is and how to work with it. The second finding, schools are mainly aimed at finding and punishing the bully than working with a bullying victim. The third key finding, this is the low status of teacher- psychologists, because of which some participants could not attend training. All three discoveries are significant and require administration involvement for a solution.

Key words: bullying, anti-bullying programs, teacher training, Temirtau