Did you know that among students from grades 6-12, about 28% have been bullied?
The problematic statistics show that nearly one-third of the students in high school have faced bullying.
This is a serious number.
What’s more sickening is that some cases of bullying have lasted for more than half a year in 10- 14% of children.
When the child is in school, parents stay assured of their child’s safety as they trust the teachers. There is no denying the fact that just like parents, almost every teacher shows unrelenting love and support for the children at school.
The concerning fact is that even the teachers can overlook cases of bullying that could hurt a child in different ways. This topic about bullying is among the education-related queries that are worth discussing.
Here are the types of bullying that teachers and parents need to know about. You will also get to know why this topic needs to be addressed in education questions and answers that are important for today.
Teacher Bullying
A 2006 study revealed that of all teachers studied, 45% admitted to bullying students. Bullying is a serious issue that needs immediate redressal mostly by teachers. But what to do when your child’s school bully is his/her teacher?
In such cases, teacher bullying has to do with the use of their position or authority to carry out student manipulation, punishment, or disparagement. Bullying may also become a classroom tactic for teachers who went through bullying as children.
There are several reasons that teachers can take the harsh step to bully their students:
- This could be due to lack of adequate disciplinary strategies training.
- The school management may also fail to provide teachers with the right disciplinary measures.
As a result, they turn to bully and intimidate the students to show their control. Bullying may also become a classroom tactic for teachers who went through bullying as children.
- In several instances, teachers also become the victims of student bullying. In such cases, they could resort to it in retaliation.
Relational Aggression
Relational aggression is a form of bullying that can be hard to notice by teachers and parents. Also known as emotional bullying, teens, and tweens resort to relational aggression as a tool for social manipulation by means of:
- exclusion
- intimidation
- insults
- teasing
- ignorance
Their goal is to damage the social standing of their peers.
What relational bullies do is they engage in rumor spreading, situation manipulation, isolating the victim from the group members and hurting their self-confidence. By doing so, the bully hopes to boost his/her own social recognition.
This form of bullying is commonly seen amongst girls between grades 5 and 8, popularly known as frenemies/mean girls. If a student suffers relational aggression, they have to endure exclusion, intimidation, insults, teasing, and being ignored.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying, also known as cyberharassment, is the severest form of bullying that teachers and parents should be aware of. To conduct such harassment, the bully uses the internet and other forms of technology to threaten, embarrass, or target someone they wish to socially harm.
Many teens use this against each other by posting their intimate photos on social platforms or use their smart devices to post threats online or send texts and emails intended to provoke the other person.
Since the internet and social media are here to stay, cyberbullying continues to grow among students. This is because bullies find it an easier way of targeting others without getting caught. With the use of smart devices and technology, they can maintain an anonymous profile.
Victims of cyberbullying usually feel unprotected and downhearted because the bullies can reach them at any time. They usually fear for their safety, which is why teachers and parents need to take cyberbullying cases seriously.
Verbal Bullying
Verbal bullying is the form of bullying, in which the bully uses words that are meant to hurt others. This can include mean comments and using other tactics like threatening, name-calling, and insults. They usually focus on certain aspects or characteristics of their victims and use this as a tool to hurt them. It could be something in their appearance or a kind of disability.
Verbal bullies also attack the family history, religion or race of their victims.The intention of a verbal bully is to control or upset the victims.
Such bullies usually focus on certain aspects or characteristics of their victims and use this as a tool to hurt them. It could be something in their appearance or a kind of disability. Verbal bullies also attack the religion or race of their victims.
Verbal bullying is highly destructive because it tends to change the way that the victim sees themselves and perceives their external environment.
It is not always easy to spot cases of verbal bullying because no physical actions are involved. Teachers and parents may not see any evidence but the child could be under immense emotional pressure.
Verbal bullies may also hit out physically at their victims when around friends or when no one is watching. If the victims ever get the courage to speak up, the conversation usually holds no weight since there is no evidence to back their claims up.
If you notice that a child is constantly withdrawn or always has mood swings, there are chances they could be the victims of verbal bullying. They may also come to you to verify whether something someone says to them at school or elsewhere is true. Such children need more love and assurance, and teachers and parents have an obligation to teach them how to stand up to verbal bullies. If required, they need to take necessary action against the bully.
Sexual Bullying
Sexual bullying is the form of harassment in connection with the victim’s body or sex. Sexual bullies constantly direct sexually humiliating and harmful actions at their victims. They might make vulgar gestures, call them with sexually provocative names, make rude comments, touch the victim without being invited, use sexual propositioning, and show them erotic content.
There are cases where a bully could make certain comments concerning the appearance or sexual development of a fellow student. If not checked and controlled, sexual bullying can become the platform that leads to sexual abuse.
The victims of this form of bullying are predominantly girls but the bully can be of any gender. Girls could be touched inappropriately by boys who proposition them and make sexually offensive comments about their appearances.
In situations where girls are sexual bullies, they could use offensive words like “tramp” and “slut” to insult other girls. Slut-shaming is also another aspect of sexual bullying that is prevalent. Sexual bullying is a serious issue and is often covered in school curriculum and education questions and answers. However, it should be addressed the moment it comes into notice.
Prejudicial Bullying
Education related queries have identified prejudicial bullying as a common thing. This is a term used to depict the prejudices people usually have towards other people’s religions, races and sexual orientation. It could also stem from the stereotypes that people believe There are certain other forms of bullying that can be grouped under prejudicial bullying.
In a situation like this in school, a prejudicial bully can target children coming from different backgrounds or having different religions. It may also be directed at people of a different sexual orientation. Prejudicial bullying may eventually create room for hate crimes if left unchecked.
Do not hesitate to report a case involving a child being bullied for their racial or religious differences.
Awareness Is Necessary
The forms of bullying discussed are among the things teachers and parents should know. There are different reasons that kids could become bullies. A lack of love and appreciation at home could transform kids into bullies. Parents also have an obligation to teach their children the act of being responsible.
Bullying is something that children learn, so, taking steps to monitor and stop such behavior will benefit your child in the long run. Parents and teachers must also cooperate to find effective solutions to bullying problems whether at school or in the home.
Author Bio: Samuel Alfie is a blogger at ProProfs Discuss, the #1 Q&A website with millions of wisdom seekers collaborating to ask questions and get the best answers. He loves reading and writing about a variety of topics including technology, business, e-commerce, science, philosophy, Pop culture, digital media, and more. With a knack for writing, enthusiasm for research and an editorial mindset, he loves creating content that resonates with the audience.
