Differences in teacher-perceived contextual working conditions (to tackle bullying) between primary and secondary schools

Description

Bullying is a complex problem in both primary and secondary schools (Gaffney et al., 2018). Research on bullying and the development of antibullying (AB)-programs has increased (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011), with AB-programs for primary education being generally effective, whereas less or even adverse effects have been found for programs in secondary education (Yeager et al., 2015). Teachers are thought to have a key role in preventing, identifying and intervening in bullying situations (Migliaccio, 2015; van Verseveld et al., 2019), which makes them also important for the effective implementation of AB-programs. This study aimed to investigate teachers’ perceptions on contextual differences in the school culture between primary and secondary schools, that may facilitate the implementation of interventions. Using data of 157 teachers from 10 primary and 4 secondary Dutch schools, difference analyses indicated that secondary school teachers experienced significantly less consensus within their team (t(134) = 7.08, p<.01) and perceived their management to be less open for input and suggestions from employees (t(112) = 6.60, p<.01) than primary school teachers. Using multivariate logistic regression modelling, additional job conditions will be analyzed to investigate the relative strength of contextual differences between primary and secondary job contexts, of which the outcomes may have implications for the implementation strategy of AB-programs.

Period	22-Jan-2021
Event title	PRO meeting 2021
Event type	Conference
Location	Rotterdam, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National