The motivations to treat bullying are irrefutable, as all support workers in this sample indicate that if bullying was controlled or even eradicated completely the overall short-term and long-term effects would be overwhelmingly positive. These significant motivations give further reinforcement to the importance of developing and implementing more comprehensive intervention strategies, with aspects such as rectifying the ill health implications for victims at the forefront of treatment options.
All support workers in the sample indicated that the immediate short-term effects of bully control would be overwhelmingly positive, with supporting quotes from UK participants discussing the various improvements as being:
‘students would be comfortable, unstressed, not anxious, and overall I assume more happy’ (UK4)
Additionally, UK participants perceived a more positive educational environment and better peer relations:
‘children learn better in a positive and happy environment’ (UK1) ‘school learning and socializing would be so much more positive’ (UK4)
The abovementioned quotes agree that there would be considerable benefits from restricting bullying. These improvements range from personal benefits (e.g. reduced stress), to academic benefits (e.g. better learning and attainment) to the benefit of the whole school environment (e.g. socializing and peer relations would be more positive). The quotes from UK participants above highlight the complexity of these factors, which are also present in other cultures. These benefits are also described by SA participants who state that bully restriction would result in:
‘the possibility of cultivating a self-confident, self-assured pupil, secure in themselves’ (SA4)
as well as:
‘better health, better concentration, better pupil interaction’ (SA2)
Similarly, a participant from the USA discussed other positive factors which would include a safer school environment
‘there would be a sense of security, safety, enjoyment, non-violence’ (USA4)
With another USA participant describing that pupils would feel:
‘higher sense of belonging, when students feel like they belong in a school they are more successful’ (USA2)
It was interesting to note that many of the supporting quotes above are not specific as to who gains from the reduction or restriction of bullying, as many support workers refer to these individuals as ‘pupils’, ‘children’ or ‘students’. Occasionally, a support worker was clear that the benefits of bully restriction would be for all pupils; including both the bully and victim:
‘lives of potential victims and bullies much more rewarding and fulfilling’(UK3)
Participant UK3 discusses the improvement in the life of a bully, this could be a positive change as participants agree (see page 57) that the vast array of ill health concerns associated with victims far outweigh the ill health concerns associated with bullies; support workers held the perception that bullies would suffer with a limited amount of ill health concerns, and that a primary concern would be suffering with interrupted concentration:
‘I think bullies suffer with poor concentration cos they may be continually planning their next ‘incident’ embarrassing others is a priority to them’ (SA3)
Support worker perceptions illustrate that a very limited amount of negative associations are linked with bullies, the primary issue being that bullies would have interrupted concentration during school hours as they would be aiming to plan the next bullying incident. There was a clear cross-cultural similarity apparent in the data set, in that bullies do not have many (if any) ill-health implications. This
perspective highlighted a cross-cultural difference; this research has highlighted a further issue which research in the area is lacking. Participants in the study believe that bullies suffer with interrupted concentration, however previous research indicates that only victims suffer with interrupted concentration (Boulton et al., 2008). This is an important finding in this study, as it highlights a gap that previous literature is lacking. This new finding could also be attributed to the changing nature of educational bullying behaviour.
The benefits of bullying restriction is also discussed by Olweus (1997) who states that once an intervention (the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program) has been successful implemented in an educational setting, there is a marked improvement in the social climate within the school. In turn, an improvement in peer relations and student satisfaction would also be witnessed.
In addition to these far-reaching benefits, a support worker from the UK highlights the idea that victims would experience the benefits of bully restriction well into adulthood:
‘more confident, secure, positive, and happy adults who are not afraid to take on challenges in life’ (UK3)
These quotes indicate that all support workers perceive the positive short-term and long-term benefits which would occur if bullying was controlled, or eradicated entirely. Support worker perceptions clearly illustrate that both bullies and victims would experience a secure and happy educational environment which would ultimately lead to better attainment and attendance, and overall better health and wellbeing for all students. Support workers believe that these overwhelmingly positive benefits, which would continue in later life, demonstrate the powerful and untapped potential which could possibly be achieved if bullying was controlled.
It was important to include these motivations for treating bullying in the analysis, as all support workers in the sample strongly believe the positive short-term and long-term effects of bully
restriction. However, it is evident in examining current treatment interventions (see page 24) that the majority of available treatment options fail to address the significant health implications associated with bullying. Subsequently, these significant health implications continue to have a severe impact on the pupil in both the short-term and long-term. This represents incongruence between the beliefs of support workers, and the options available in treating bullying behaviour.