Question

Through observation or personal experience, how does bullying play a role in the learning environment? What challenges are educators facing in the learning environment when dealing with bullying?

Answer 1

Through various observations and personal experience, it is evident that bullying plays a negative role in the learning environment and it involves all parties; the target person, the bully and the people who are part of the environment.

• It impacts the mental state of the person as he/she feels disconnected from the environment
• It also affects the self -esteem and morale of the person
• The person will have an increased risk of depression and in extreme cases, it is a cause of suicides as well
• It affects the emotional balance of the person and symptoms include anxiety, sleep deprivation, socially withdrawal & lower levels of resilience

There is a massive impact on schools as the school's culture and climate gets severely affected. It is observed that in such cases the retention of quality faculty members becomes extremely difficult. It also affects parents trust in the school and impacts the credibility of the learning environment.

The learning environment becomes fearful and disrespectful and students lose trust in teachers as they believe they have little control over such things.

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Part B - Challenges that educators are facing in the learning environment when dealing with bullying:

• Bullying today in the learning environment has taken many forms and in cases of cyberbullying, the teachers have little knowledge or control to handle such situations. Educators have no control over bullying beyond school boundaries & this becomes a great challenge.
• Bullying requires teachers & educators to develop trust with all students as in most cases the students won't share the incident if they lack trust or faith in the system. Establishing a similar rapport with all students becomes challenging.
• Even if the learning environment at the school has systems, processes and subjects to teach & prevent such cases it becomes difficult as the role of a parent is equally important and educators have less control over it.
• Challenges related to discrimination in the learning environment - a child because of disability or other needs may face bullying & it might become difficult for the learning environment in the school to provide access to all facilities. Such cases pose a great challenge and have to be handled carefully by the educators.
• Challenges which needs to make sure educators are working together to ensure student develops social skills and makes friends in the environment. The educators have to prioritise on providing a comfortable climate so that effective emotional & cognitive engagement is present.

Often schools and educators don't address such issues unless there are examples or crisis situation happens. The biggest challenge is to ensure preventive measures & building a healthy, accessible and acceptable learning environment for students.

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