Are elementary school teachers prepared to tackle bullying? A pilot study

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate to what extent elementary school teachers were prepared to tackle bullying. Interview data from 22 Dutch elementary school teachers (M age=43.3, 18 classrooms in eight schools) were combined with survey data from 373 students of these teachers (M age=10.7, grades 3-6, ages 8- to 12-years-old, 52.2% boys). The teachers in this study gave incomplete definitions of bullying, had limited strategies to find out about bullying, and did not recognize the self-reported victims in their classroom, suggesting that even though teachers are supposed to have a central role in tackling bullying, they may not be fully prepared for this task. Implications for future research are discussed.