I'm VERY interested in your views

[amytough]

Hello. My name is Amy and I'm a 3rd year undergraduate at the University of Bristol.

I am currently doing my dissertation about attitudes regarding peer-victimisation in young children and it's incredibly hard to recruit participants for this study as the method of contacting them is often by way of some work place that they are affiliated with. Naturally they have concerns that their views may reflect in some way ON that work place and that is the last thing I want to do.

But I do desperately need a few people who would be willing to offer me their views on the subject. I have an online survey for the purpose that is totally anonymous. It has two sections, a multiple choice demographic section (1 min tops) and then a 5 part verbatim response section for your views (can take as little as 5 minutes, or more depending on how strong your views are of the subject - it's up to you).

If you are willing to spare me your time (or just have a quick look to see if you're interested, you can even start it and decide you don't want to continue it) the link can be found here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?s..._2fm_2fg_3d_3d

If you have any questions contact info is available at that link.

Thank you so much for your help.

[portchesterqueen]

Dear Amytough
I have filled in your survey which i found interesting as i am looking into bullying at reception year myself. May i have a copy of the final piece as i am very interested in your findings, as this may give us some clue as to how much of this actually goes on and what strategies should be put in place to prevent it.
regards
Portchesterqueen

[cabin]

Hi there - I've filled it in to, and like pcqueen - I find it really interesting to be kept informed of your findings too.
Good luck with the study.

xxxxx

[DizzyDora]

I've also filled 1 in, good luck with your dissertation x

[amytough]

PCQueen & Cabin, yes of course you can so long as you understand that it is only at an undergraduate level and thus the data available to me will be insufficient to gain statistically significant results in all probability.

Thanks for your time!

[amytough]

Thank you so much for your help so far. The responses I've gathered so far have been excellent and provided fantastic insight into your views.

If anyone else would like to offer their views, the survey is still active at the above link.

Thanks so much for your support in this matter.

Amy.

[FARLEYS]

do you still need replies?

[amytough]

Not anymore no since I handed in my dissertation just today :) But many thanks for offering your assistance.

For those who requested results.

Overall 74% of all teachers have an understanding that bullying can occur in children under the age of 8 years, this increased to 100% for people working in nursery and infant school setting.

The purpose of the research was to address a dearth of literature studying bullying in children below the age of 8 as the absence of studies could suggest that it is a non-existent behaviour in children, and as research often guide the formation of policy there was a concern that current strategies may not be useful and appropriate for younger children especially as, at the present time, there is a one-size-fits-all policy determining strategies from nursery to senior school.

However, it has been seen that although teachers do use policy guidance, it does not stand in place of their own knowledge, but rather enhances it. However, there was a wide range of beliefs about the frequency, definitions and children's own understanding of bullying behaviour that could benefit from stronger policy guidance. This should allow school staff to respond in an increasingly cooperative way.

Although the policy is not bad, improvements could be made and my final suggestion was that the policy needed to be revised into stages to meet the specific developmental needs of children at all levels.

I hope this makes sense and is interesting to you. As I said before I am only an undergraduate student so none of this is be any means statistically significant, nor does it enjoy any high levels of reliability or validity. However I enjoyed writing it and am very grateful for your support in this matter. If you have any further questions I will try to answer them as best I can.

Thanks again!

[portchesterqueen]

Dear Amy
many thanks for the info that you found out during your research. This is a good springboard for me to use for my own research. I am glad you have finished your dissertation. Good luck in your career.
Portchesterqueen

[amytough]

Thanks Portchesterqueen.

Good luck with your research. It's certainly an interesting area to research. It would be EVEN better to embark on similar research with young children to determine whether they felt that adults had a different view of bullying to them.

I actually tried this myself and was turned down by about 30 different schools and pre-schools on the grounds that "we don't have bullying in our school". An understandable response although a little short sighted. If you COULD gain access to a few schools/preschools it would be a valuable piece of research.