Poster #69 - A professional development workshop for preservice teachers to enhance their ability to intervene with bullying

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Background and Purpose: Bullying and peer victimization are common negative peer experiences among K-12 students with prevalence estimates ranging from 9% to 45% depending on gender, age, and country of origin (Craig et al., 2009). Studies consistently find that involvement in bullying as perpetrators, victims, and witnesses is related to a host of negative developmental outcomes, including internalizing difficulties (e.g., Reijntjes et al., 2010), poor academic performance and attendance (e.g., Reuland & Mikami, 2014), and externalizing problems (e.g., Reijntjes et al., 2011). Consequently, prevention and early intervention, especially in schools where many incidents of bullying occur, are important. Yet the success of adult interventions for acts of bullying and peer victimization varies. This variation is a result of many factors, however teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, and self-efficacy beliefs are all noted as important elements that either impede or encourage their intervention with bullying. To this end, the present study reports on preliminary findings for a professional development workshop for preservice teachers and its impact on participants’ perceptions and knowledge of bullying, attitudes toward bullying, and their self-efficacy and behavioral intentions to intervene with bullying incidents.

Methods: Two-hundred twenty-four preservice teachers participated in the present study (M age = 23.06, S = 3.79), predominantly white (79%). In order to control for response shifts characteristic of traditional pre-/post- test designs (e.g., “I thought I knew what I was doing on pre-workshop assessments, but now that I’ve been to the workshop I realize I don’t”), we employed what is known as a pretest-posttest retrospective design for assessing self-efficacy and behavioral intentions.

Results: Perceptions changed for all modules (see Table 1) in the desired direction. Knowledge changed especially for module 3. Table 2 shows the outcomes of the retrospective pretest-posttest design. Perceptions of the effectiveness of the workshop can be found in the BEFORE-AFTER comparisons. Significant changes in the desired direction were achieved for all 4 modules on Self-Efficacy and Behavioral Intentions.

Conclusions: Modules 1 and 2 were the least unique; they served as a Bullying 101 tutorial, a starting point for any intervention program. This may account for our modest results vis a vis perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge. Our real gains for modules 1 and 2 were found where both response shift and workshop effects were found. Modules 3 and 4 represent the most unique contributions in our views. Material drawn from research in social psychology (well outside the content domain of bullying) and organizational culture are seldom drawn on or even cited. In module 3, we present the realities about human social behavior in groups that may undermine teachers’ best efforts. Identity theory, for example, explains why group belongingness enhances well-being and norm conformity on the one hand, but elicits outgroup hostilities on the other. Despite these social realities, we provide teachers practical tools for managing these dynamics and understanding cultural norms which may make bullying more likely.

Authors

• Patricia H. Hawley, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anne Williford, Colorado State University
  Presenting Author