Teachers play a critical role in addressing conflict and aggression that occurs between peers in school contexts. How teachers perceive these situations, and the way they respond has implications for young people, so it is important that we know about their practices.
This project builds our understanding of teacher responses on a global scale through collaborative research being undertaken in many different countries.
Our aim is:
- To investigate how teacher perceptions of and responses to peer aggression (with a focus on identity-based exclusion*) differ as a function of the type of aggression depicted
- To explore if and how teacher responses vary across countries, and how factors such as teacher perceptions, experience and school context contribute
The research involves teachers of both younger primary age students (5-11 years), and teachers of adolescent, secondary school students (11-18 years). We are also keen to gather data from trainee teachers/pre-service teachers.
The online survey is designed to assess teachers’ perceptions of and responses to hypothetical scenarios depicting different forms of peer aggression, presented through text and/or pictures.
*Identity based exclusion means being targeted because of facets of one’s actual or perceived social identity (e.g., race, sexual orientation, dis/ability status etc.)