The Morality of Safety: Leveraging Collective Efficacy, Student Bullying, and Teacher Protection of Students

• In Event: 75.013 - How Leaders Negotiate the Influence of Social Context on Organizational Structures and School Policies

Abstract

Recently, incidents of school violence have questioned the abilities of school leaders to educate students in safe and socially productive environments. In many cases, incidents of school violence are linked directly to bullying episodes. This study examines the relationships between two dimensions of bullying (teacher protection and student bullying) and collective efficacy in light of school size and socioeconomic status. Following the computation of both descriptive statistics and correlational analyses, the general hypothesis of the investigation, that collective efficacy is negatively related to school bullying and positively related to teacher protection, is supported. Further analysis of the data using multiple linear regression analyses revealed that collective efficacy emerged as a statistically significant predictor of both teacher protection and student bullying.

Authors

• Tonya Hyde, Fort Sam Houston Independent School District

• Page A. Smith, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Sean Kearney, Texas A&M University - San Antonio