Browsing by Subject "Nettikiusaaminen"

The aim of this study was to find out teachers’ and guardians’ perceptions of cyberbullying intervention strategies and the school’s responsibility. Besides the intent was to examine their views about the intervention programs gathered by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Previous research has shown that school officials intervene more easily in physical bullying as they do not notice the cyberbullying incidents and more guidance and intervention programs are needed. The purpose of this study was to provide information to school officials and guardians about the operative factors linked to cyberbullying interventions, to point out the intervention procedures and programs that are regarded as being practical and to determine the responsibility of school based on the views of teachers and guardians. Four guardians and three teachers participated in the study. The data was collected in two focus group discussions, one with teachers and the other one with guardians. The material was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The analysis was partly led by the theoretical framework and partly the themes that came up in the discussions. The results showed that teachers applied the same methods than in traditional bullying such as discussions, agreements and positive pedagogy while emphasizing also the responsibility of the guardians. However, the guardians felt that the pre-adolescents had not received enough guidance and support from the school and they were reluctant to report cyberbullying. According to the focus groups the responsibility of school to intervene in the cyberbullying occurred at school depends on the school policies, legislation, multi-professional collaboration, anonymity and the case in question. When it happens outside the school the responsibility is easier to specify – teachers are not obligated to intervene excluding the incidents that are linked to school or appear also in there. As to the intervention programs the guardians considered the peer mediation program VERSO to be the most functional while the teachers found it to be more suitable for small disputes. The teachers liked the KiVa program the most based on their good experiences and they especially high-lighted a case-by-case approach. Likewise the guardians gave good feedback on the KiVa program.