Browsing by Author "Isotupa, Maria"

The impact of workplace and school bullying on well-being has been previously studied from a multidisciplinary perspective. The teaching profession involves the risk of being subjected to other forms of harassment, in addition to the traditional occupational bullying in which either a subordinate, a colleague or a superior harasses an employee. Teemu Kauppi (2015) researched the nature of cross-peer abuse encountered by teachers, in which pupils or their guardians acted as the bully. Among other things, the OAJ Educational Labor Barometer (2017) showed that teachers are faced with bullying by both pupils and their guardians. The aim of this study was to identify the methods used by teachers to manage and prevent cross-peer abuse. The research approach was qualitative and examined teacher experiences of the methods they applied when faced with or attempting to prevent cross-peer abuse. The material was acquired through a group-themed interview with four teachers and openly guided written accounts submitted by 14 (n = 14) teachers. In addition, two teachers wanted to respond verbally according to the instructions in the article. The data analysis method used in this study was content analysis. The main results of the study revealed that the teachers’ assumptions of the cause of bullying are in fact connected to the teachers’ coping strategies. The results also showed that recently graduated and inexperienced teachers felt that they themselves were the cause of the bullying and are consequently trying to change their behavior or even considered a career change. In these cases, the teachers also felt ashamed and attempted to conceal the bullying from their colleagues and superiors. In contrast, more experienced teachers believed the bullying was caused by the bully's personal issues or the result of other external reasons. In such cases, the teachers sought support from their social networks and attempted to solve the issue in a systematic way. The purpose of the study is to provide teachers with the methods and tools that their colleagues have used and found most effective. Feldt and Mäkikangas (2009) state that coping strategies can change over time and they can be developed. That is why I hope that through my research, teachers will learn ways to manage and prevent bullying quicker and more effectively.