Cyberbullying Interview

The interviewee, who is currently at a public school in Western Sydney, has over thirty years’ experience in a range of different schooling environments. She has taught casually at private schools and permanently at public schools. Her preferable classes include senior classes and mentions she typically has a very high number of EAL/D students and students with a refugee background. She states she has worked with very diverse schools and has seen up to 90 different cultural backgrounds in one school. She has been a year advisor for a couple of years and so has worked alongside other educators in regards to student welfare issues. She currently teaches Science, both Biology and Chemistry. This High School has “developed its student wellbeing

The schools code of conduct states that “A key part of planning for student wellbeing and effective learning is the school policy for management of bullying and harassment”. The interviewee stated that students are experiencing an increasing amount of cyberbullying. Through her time as a teacher, she has seen the rapid technological change and explains that students are becoming more attached to their phones, causing them to become distracted in class and easily lose focus. She becomes quickly aware of the students that are being bullied as rumours spread in her class. However, importantly mentions, that not all students speak out about this issue. Cyberbullying is a relatively new and serious form of bullying. It can be said it is an old problem in a new guise (Campbell, 2005). On the other hand, Dooley et. al (2009) states that it is a debatable topic whether this sort of bullying via technology is a separate phenomenon or another type of bullying. The interviewee recalled many negative social and emotional effects on both victims and perpetrators because of cyberbullying occurring in the school. Literature reiterates the detrimental effects experienced by victims of cyber bullying (Bhat, 2012). A study by Megan and John (2012) explains how over a quarter of victims did not find support despite the serious emotional impacts of cyberbullying. The school is said to be doing their very best in ensuring the

The first strategy is the implementation of a ‘Mindmatters’ team that is run on school premises that has a primary focus on student wellbeing. This ensures students have a support team to turn to when times get tough. This team of teachers began in 2015 and the chief focus is on mental health issues for young girls. An article by Graham (2011) states that teachers are considered well placed to pick out issues regarding students’ social and emotional wellbeing. Teachers are said to be appropriate sites for mental health promotion. Therefore, incorporating teachers on this team is a positive strategy. The interviewee said this strategy provided staff with guidance and advice so they could support the girls in the best way possible. This strategy was based on promotion, prevention and early