REGULATING AGGRESSION IN A CLASSROOM: ANTI-BULLYING PRACTICES OF TEACHERS

Abstract

Classroom bullying can be either prevented or intervened at schools by the teachers and other involved parties. The focus of this study was teachers’ involvement in this process of regulating bullying. As a result of qualitatively studying the anti-bullying methods of 11 teachers of one elite school in Kazakhstan, it has been identified that teachers of that school tend to give a preference to prevention of bullying over intervention. This is the result of their self-perception as successful and effective value inculcators, who can prevent bullying arousal at the school through transmitting the values of respect and unity than through observing and reporting on bullying according to their watchmen identity. This study presents a new outlook on the perceived level of bullying, teachers’ anti-bullying methods, self and social identities and shows how they are all interlinked through the prisms of Situational Crime Prevention and Identity Control Theories.