Charitou, Christodoulos; (2023) Bullying, bullying prevention and interdisciplinary practice in primary schools: The insights of bullying prevention through the lens of Cypriot professionals. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The definition of bullying has been the subject of debate by researchers, who are exploring various traits of its manifestation. The ongoing research around bullying aims to better understand and define the act, while guidelines from policies and examples from research-based prevention practices contribute to the de-escalation of this behaviour. The aim of the current study is not to offer a new definition about what bullying entails, but rather to understand the way that the theory and research concerning bullying, existing bullying policies and actual practices, interconnect with and impact each other, through the lens of professionals actively engaged in the prevention of bullying. The study is connected to research conducted in Cyprus, with the aim of understanding and revealing the insights of five professionals around bullying and bullying prevention practices. The research questions focus on the professionals’ understanding on bullying and bullying prevention practices, the way that their disciplinary identity, academic background and work experience, influence their understanding of bullying, their awareness of their own professional identity regarding the others’ bullying prevention practices, and their understanding around the possibilities, the limitations and the challenges of interdisciplinarity for bullying prevention. Five professionals, working for bullying prevention in primary education in Cyprus, an educational psychologist (EP), a music therapist (MT), a teacher (T), a theatre practitioner (TP) and a social worker (SW), were selected through purposeful sampling. Following an Action Research methodological approach, the data collection involved professionals writing short vignettes illustrating some aspects of their work, participating in individual interviews based on the vignettes and finally, three focus groups, where they met in order to exchange perceptions, which respond to research questions. The findings reveal that the professionals hold a broad understanding of bullying which is linked with their actual practices. Additionally, the professionals entered a process of increased critical reflection, giving new information and shedding light on the efficacy of their and others’ prevention practices, finding their role and responsibilities, and developing their professional identity around bullying prevention. Finally, they identified multiple challenges of interdisciplinary collaborative practice and assessed the opportunities that the process could bring both for their personal and professional growth, and for the education of the pupils. The study concludes with the insights of the research, identifying its limitations and challenges, which impacts the trustworthiness of the results. It reveals that further research is needed in order for interdisciplinarity for bullying prevention to reach its full potential, while illustrating the way that the findings can inform and problematise future anti-bullying policies and professional practice for bullying prevention in general.

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