An Investigation Into The Nature Of Bullying In Selected Secondary Schools In The Oshana Education Region Of Namibia

Abstract

Bullying is regarded as an emotional issue which affects the entire school community. A

lot of studies have been carried out in the developed world where it was concluded that

bullying has short and long term negative effects on the lives of both victims and

perpetrators. In Namibia, apart from this study, no study was carried out in order to

determine the nature of bullying in Namibian schools. This is the main reason why this

study was initiated in order to look into the extent to which bullying is happening in

schools, the causes and effects of bullying, and the strategies used by teachers in order

to combat bullying in schools.

A mixed methods research study was carried out. Purposeful sampling was used to

select 7 secondary schools in the Oshana Region and 30 learners per school were used

for this study. Fifteen learners per school were selected for focus group discussions.

Learners were divided into 3 groups, namely: Group A for learners perceived as

perpetrators of bullying, Group B for learners perceived as victims of bullying and

Group C for learners who were randomly selected. In addition, 5 teachers per school

were interviewed during focus group discussions.

The findings revealed that the majority of teachers and learners were aware that bullying

took place in their schools. The most common types were physical and emotional

bullying. New types of bullying also emerged through the study. Chi-square analysis

indicated that there is a relationship between bullying, and school size, school

performance, school setting as well as grade repetition. It was revealed that very big

schools and weak performing schools experienced more bullying activities in

comparison to medium sized and excellent performing schools.

The causes of bullying varied from school to school. Poor school rules, school setting,

and peer pressure emerged to be some of the most common causes of bullying. Bullying

has long term effects on the lives of both victims and perpetrators. Ample evidence from

the analyses of data showed that bullying contributes negatively to academic

performance, discipline in schools and self-esteem. Although the impact of bullying is

huge, the findings revealed that there is no ministerial policy which specifically

addresses bullying in schools. Each school tends to deal with bullying the way teachers

find it best and it seems teachers lack skills on how to handle bullying cases.

In conclusion, bullying in schools is worse than people outside can imagine. Learners

and teachers are living in fear of their lives. There is an urgent need for intervention

from the policymakers so that anti-bullying policies are introduced in schools. It is never

too late to plan but it will be too late to reverse the situation if there is no action taken

against bullying in Namibian schools.