REPUBLIC COLLEGES OF GUINOBATAN INC.

GRADUATE SCHOOL

SUMMER CLASS

BULLYING INCIDENCE IN SAN JOSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: BASIS FOR AN

ARZEL R. SAYAGO

MAED Student

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INTRODUCTION

Bullying has been a critical issue in school for decades. Nowadays, it is

becoming part of daily classroom experience. Frequent acts involve physical bullying

(like hitting, pushing, tripping, slapping spitting, stealing or

destroying possessions, etc.); verbal bullying (like accusing, criticizing, name calling,

threatening, discrimination, etc); and emotional or psychological bullying (like

confinement, isolation, verbal assault, humiliation, intimidation, infantilization, or any

other treatment which may diminish the sense of identity, dignity, and self-worth).

These situations can bring a long lasting unlikeable effect to children’s lives

because of the harm these may give to their normal development. Although individuals

may be aware of the prevalence of bullying, often attempts to reduce this behavior are

unsuccessful without the implementation of programs geared toward making positive

changes.

Detrimental effects of bullying to children’s lives are now becoming a strong fear

not only to educators but to the government as well. Developing effective and possible

measures to prevent abusive behavior within school environment is now one of most

urgent concerns of the government. Lawmakers never stop taking actions to prevent

bullying and protect children.

Bullying is an issue that is prevalent in today’s schools. In San Jose Elementary School,

pupils oftentimes report untoward acts made by their classmates or other schoolmates.

Unknowingly, these are already forms of bullying.

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 This study aimed to investigate the awareness of grade four pupils of San Jose

Elementary School on the concepts and incidence of bullying based on their

perceptions and experiences. The forms of bullying experienced by grade four pupils, to

whom the bullying incidence address, and interventions made by the concerned school

personnel were also looked into. The sample of participants in this study consisted of

fifteen grade four pupils for school year 2015 – 2016 which were selected through the

fishbowl technique. Confidentiality was guaranteed to pupil repondents who participated

in the study.

Descriptive survey utilizing a research-made questionnaire was used in gathering

data. Frequency , percentage, and weighted mean were used in the analysis and

interpretation of data gathered.

Based on the findings, the grade four pupil respondents are “somewhat aware” or

have a little knowledge about the different forms of bullying. However, most of them

experienced the different forms of bullying, only that they are not aware that these

actions they are experiencing are already forms of bullying. The bullying incidence

oftentimes were reported to their respective class advisers and failed to report to the

School Guidance Coordinator or School Principal, that’s why bullying cases were not

properly reported, recorded, and addressed.

Thus, the researcher proposed the following activities to educate not only the

grade four pupils but all pupils and parent members of San Jose Elementary School:

coduct symposium on School Bullying awareness and Prevetion; information

dissemination to parents during PTA meetings or assemblies; strenghten School

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Guidance Program for reporting, investigating, and record-keeping; and to formulate

school policies to address bullying incidence.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge on the awareness on the

concept and incedence of “bullying” among grade four pupils of San Jose Elementary

School. Specifically, it sought to find out the (1) level of awareness of grade four pupils

on the concept of bullying; (2) forms of bullying experienced by the grade four pupils of

San Jose Elementary School; (3) to whom the pupils address the bullying incidence in

the school; (4) concerned school personnel who handle the reported problems on

bullying; and (5) proposed intervention program to prevent bullying incidence among

grade four pupils of San Jose Elementary School.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY

The research study used the descriptive survey method of research. A research-

made questionnaire rating scale and checklist was utilized in the gathering data and it

was validated by school guidance coordinator. The information and data obtained from

the retrieved questionnaires were computed using frequency, percentage, and weighted

mean. To quatify the weighted mean for each response in problem one, the following

rating scale was used:

5 = Extremely aware

4 = Moderately aware

3 = Somewhat aware

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 2 = Slightly aware

1 = Not at all Aware

The respondents included in this study 15 grade four puils: 8 boys and 7 girls of

San Jose Elementary School which were selected using fishbowl technique.

The questionnaire was consist of four parts: (1) level of awareness on the

concept of bullying, (2) forms of bullying incidence experienced by grade four pupils, (3)

to whom the bullying incidence address, and (4) interventions made by the concerned

school personnel.

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND RESPONDENTS

San Jose Elementary School was located at the countryside of Libon. Its

distance from town proper is 12 kilometers. The school is being runned by a principal

and 19 teachers. Grades one to three were composed of three sections, grade four are

two sections, grades five and six three sections,

Grade four has 84 pupils which came from different family econimic status

where the respondents are randomly selected. Respondents are asked to answers

questions about bullying incedent they met in the school.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Below were the findings of this action research:

1. Level of Awareness of Grade Four Pupils on the Concept of Bullying

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 The two indicators, “ threats to inflict wrong upon the person, honor, or property

of the person or on his or her family” and “stalking or constantly following or pursuing a

person in his or her daily activities, with unwanted and obsessive intention” got a

weighted mean of 2.4 and 1.96 respectively, which mean that the grade four pupils are

‘slightly aware’ or not sure that these are forms of bullying.

On indicator 3 and 9, “taking one’s property” and “excluding someone from a

group work or games” got a weighted mean of 2.29 and 2.72 resectively or the pupils

are “somewhat aware” or have a little knowledge that these are forms of bullying.

For indicators 4 and 8 and 10 to 12, these are the obtained weighted mean for

each: “public humiliation or public malicious imputation of a crime or a vice or defect”

has 3.68, “deliberate destruction or defacement of, or damage to the child’s property”

got 3.58, “physical violence committed upon a pupil, with or without the aid of a weapon”

has 3.92, “demanding or requiring sexual or monetary favors, or exacting money or

property from a pupil” with a weighted mean of 3.4, “restraining the liberty and freedom

of a pupil” got 3.62, “ forcing someone to do something against one’s will” has 3.52,

“writing hurtful things about someone through vandalism” got 3.82, and Making fun of

somebody’s looks” with a weighte mean of 3.86. These indicators falls under

‘moderately aware’ or they have knowledge about bullying to some extent.

To some up, the grade four pupils are ‘somewhat aware’ or have a little

knowledge about the different forms of bullying as mentioned from indicators 1 to 12

with a general weighted mean of 3.27.

2. Forms of Bullying Experienced By Grade Six Pupils

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 Bullying has different forms as indicated in problem 1. As experienced by the grade

four pupils, eight (8) out of (15) pupils or 76% are “excluded from group work and

games”;ten (10) ot 70% received “ hurtful things about someone through vandaism”,

both ten (10) or 68% are victims of “ public humiliation or public and malicious

imputation of a crime or a vice or defect” and “forcing someone to do something against

one’s will” respectively; nine (9) pupils or 62% receives “ physical violence committed

upon pupils,with or without the aid of a ewapon”; both eight (8) or 56% of the

respondents are victims of “ taking one’s property” and “deliverate destruction or

defacement of, or damage to the child’s property”; seven (7) or 52% experienced to be “

making fun of somebody’s looks”; seven (7) or 48% received “ threats to inflict wrong

upon the person, honor, or property of the person or on his or her family”; six (6) or 46%

experienced to be “demanded or required with sexual or monetary favors, or exacting

money or property from a pupil”; four (4) or 28% are victims of stalking or constantly

following or pursuing a person in his or her daily activities, with unwanted and obsessive

intention” and two (2) or 14% of the respondents are victims of “ name-calling or

associating alias to their names”.

The findings only show that, most of the grade four respondents experienced

bullying in any form. However, they are not aware that these actions they are

experiencing are already forms of bullying.

3. To Whom the Bullying Incidence Experienced by the Grade Six Pupils

Addressed

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 The school bullying experienced by the grade four pupils are addressed to the

school principal, school guidance coordinator, class advisers, subject teachers, PTA

officers, Barangay Officials, and parents,guardian. Majority of the pupil respondents with

12 or 82% addressed the incidence to their class adviser, eleven (11) or 76% to their

parents, nine (9) or 62% to the subject teachers, one (1) or 10% to the barangay official,

4% to the school principal and School Guidance Coordinator respectively.

Hence, these pupil respondents failed to report the bullying incidence they

experienced to the proper authorities, the School Guidance Coordinator, for

appropriate action and update ecord-keeping for reference purposes.

4. Interventions Made by the School Personnel

Bullying in school needs an immediate action and intervention so as to minimize or

prevent worst cases. Here are some interventions made by the teachers to bullies:

classroom rules emphasizing respect and no bullying with 13 or 84%, reprimanding the

bullies with 11 or 76%, eliminate tensions in the classroom or school by making the

pupils busy with their class works with 7 or 44%, giving punishment to bullies like

cleaning the classroom, etc. with 4 or 26%, and both 2 or 22% for talking to bullies and

victim separately and referral to the school guidance coordinator for appropriate action.

The class advisers and teachers initiated interventions within the classroom to

eliminate bullying incidence, however, the interventions made by these teachers are not

enough to prevent or at least minimize bullying in the classroom. The involvement of the

guidance coordinator was not also evident; hence, bullying cases were not properly

reported and recorded.

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 5. Proposed Intervention Program to Prevent Bullying Incidence among

Grade Four

Pupils of San Jose Elementary School.Based from the findings of this research,

interventions made by the teachers and advisers at the classroom level are not enough

to educate and prevent bullying.

In this light, the researcher proposed the following intervention programs to disseminate

and educate not only the grade four but to all pupils in the school for them to be aware

of the forms of school bullying and to formulate and adopt policies on how to prevent or

minimize bullying.

1. Conduct symposium/forum on School Bullying Awareness And Prevention to

all faculty staff and children.

2. Formulate and adopt policies and guidelines to address bullying ta the school

level.

3. Information dissemination into parents during PTA meeting to

comprehensively discuss the concepts and forms of school bullying and how

to address such cases.

4. Strenghten and mobilize Guidance Program in the school for reporting,

investigating, and record-keeping of bullying cases.

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 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the related literatures gathered from materials that are

closely related and relevant which support and serve as a guide to the present study.

This chapter also includes the theoretical and conceptual frameworks, the synthesis of

the state-of-the-art, the gap bridged by the study and the definition of terms.

Our nation is now in a large movement that is very vocal about the cause sand

harms of bullying. Public and Private schools must by law have to adopt and implement

effective bullying prevention systems to fight against undesirable acts for the safety of

students, happiness and more productive learning experiences that will benefit their

future.

In the study of Rousseau et al, work place bullying is defined as a systematic

phenomenon characterized by repeated occurences of negative acts over a sustained

duration in which the target has difficulty in defending himself. Workplace bullying

behaviors include being shouted at, insulted, or physically threatened at work. As a

consequence of workplace bullying, individual’s job attitudes and health are jeopardized

as observed by Hogh et al,. Therefore, it is of outmost importance to understand how

organization can minimize workplace bullying to protect the health of their employees as

well as the financial health of the organization.

Aquino acknowledged in his research that the work environment can influence

bullying behaviors. In fact a meta-analysis by Bowling and Beehr4 suggested that the

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organizational environment plays a much greater role in explaining workplace bullying

than do individual differences. Similarly this proposition that the work environment

contributes to the perceptions of workplace bullying has found support in the literature of

Hauge et al. Furthermore, drawing from the Conservation of Rouseau (COR) theory,

Schat and Frone explain how aggressive mistreatment is a workplace aggressor that is

an indicator of a negative environment.

Crawford stated that psychologists are driving efforts to get effective, research-

based bullying-prevention and intervention programs into schools. One of the members

said that the most effective strategies to stop bullying involve the entire school as a

community to change the climate of the school and the norms of behavior. In this

intervention, school staffs introduce and implement the program, which seeks to

improve peer relations and make the school a safe and pleasant environment.

The research of Golembiewski8 recommended the educators to stress significant

ways to decrease the amount of bullying and violence that occurs in schools. First, she

recommended to formulate a committee within the school whose members are

responsible to a frequent meeting to discuss about bullying and violence in school, the

needs, the researching of adequate workshops to be attended by students as well as

educators, and finding other professionals to come to talk with students and staff about

bullying and school violence issues. Second, was to implement an anti-bullying

prevention programs for all grade levels which may include educating the bullies, the

victims and the bystanders and reminding children about the acceptable ways to treat

each other. Third, educators must be present during unstructured school times. Fourth,

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educators should create a positive school climate by incorporating team building

learning activities in the classroom.

Other recommendations involved locking of all doors besides one during school

hours to develop a safer school environment, develop a zero tolerance to

provide a safer school and report threats of violence.

The study of Ross & Horner10 indicated that the use of bullying language may

not be necessary, because its complex definitions and descriptions can be difficult to

recognize for students as well as staff. According to the researchers, by avoiding the

bullying language they were able to focus on observable behaviors and that was done

through the implementation of BP-PBS which was rated by the staff as efficient bullying

prevention.

They added it is important to emphasize that the BP-PBS procedures were

added in schools that were already using school-wide PBS. Before BP-PBS was

implemented, each school had already invested in establishing school-wide PBS

practices that included (a) instruction for all students on the concept of being respectful

(e.g., the opposite of bullying), (b) formal systems for staff recognition of appropriate

behavior, (c) consistent systems for responding to problem behavior, and (d) a school-

wide system for monitoring student problem behavior (and using those data for decision

making).

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RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

Several limitations to this study exist. The sample used in this study was very

small, 15 pupil respondents from a big school, and so results of the study are not

generalizable to a larger population. Information provided by the participants was

assumed to be true as participants were asked to answer accurately and honestly.

Utmost confidentiality was observed since this study is a delicate issue. Other aspects

like the causes and effects of bullying were not looked into because this study is only a

descriptive one; a separate case study is recommended for those aspects.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This research study is very timely and it coincides with RA 10627 or anti-bullying

act of 2013. The results and findings of this study is deemed true to the 15 grade four

pupil respondents of San Jose Elementary School, Libon West District for the school

year 2015-2016. This study focused only on the awareness on the concepts of bullying,

the different forms of bullying, whom to address the bullying incidence, and the

proposed interventions to address bullying.

In summary, bullying in an issue that is prevalent in today’s schools. Thus,

information dissemination and awareness campaign are very much necessary not only

to pupils but also to school officials and parents to prevent worst cases of bullying in

school.

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REFERENCES

1Htt://attyatwork.com/anti-bullying-act-of-2013-republic-act-10627-full-

text/#more-2695

2Fox, David J. The Research Process in Education. New York: Holt, Rinehart

and Winston, Inc. 1969.

3Vagias, Wade M. (2006). Likert-type scale response anchors. Clemson

International Institute for Tourism & Research Development, Department of Parks,

Recreation and Tourism Management. Clemson University.

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