Primary school teachers can tackle bullying better if they have a better understanding of the social dynamics in a class. "A seemingly popular child may still be being bullied," says developmental psychologist and education expert Nathalie Hoekstra, who will receive her PhD at Radboud University on 20 February. She used cattle trackers to map the movements of primary school children in the classroom.
A staggering 15 percent of pupils in primary schools are bullied. "Where there are groups of children, there is often bullying," says Hoekstra. "As a society, we need to do something about that. Because victims may suffer the negative consequences, such as low self-esteem, depression and anxiety, for the rest of their lives. That one unpleasant school year was not the end of it."
Popularity
Teachers are not always aware of relationships in the classroom. "Bullying often happens out of their sight, when the teacher is not looking or in the corridor or playground," says Hoekstra. "Previous research shows that, on average, teachers are only aware of half of the victims." In her own research, she tried to find out why this is. She asked teachers how popular they thought a child was. A teacher who rated a particular child as popular was less likely to see that same child as a victim of bullying.
This is consistent with previous research that showed that high-status pupils in the classroom can also be victims. "Popular children may also be bullied, for example by classmates wanting to move up the social ladder. As a teacher, if you are aware of your biased perspective, you can try to recognise victims in other ways, for example by talking to children or by putting a mailbox in the classroom where pupils can put notes to the teacher. Teachers can then use that information to help make the classroom a safer place."
Who sits where
One way to manage the social dynamics in the classroom is with seating arrangements. Previous research showed that children start to like each other more when they sit closer together for a while. Hoekstra: "That applies to children with a similar social status. There is no research involving bullies and victims sitting next to each other, because you can’t experiment with them for ethical reasons. If the effects turn out to be negative, it can have a big impact on a child."
In her own research, she looked at eighty classes (grades 6, 7 and 8). In half of those classes, teachers put victims of bullying next to a friend or a nice classmate and far away from the bullies for a few weeks. In the other half, pupils sat in random places in the classroom. No difference was observed with respect to how the victims of bullying in both groups felt at the end of the research.
However, that does not mean that it is not important where you seat bullies and victims in the classroom, according to Hoekstra. "Some children still find it easier not to be confronted with a bully all day. For others, sitting next to a positive leader or defender works better. It depends on the child. Teachers could make even more targeted use of classroom seating by aligning it with the needs of each child and the group as a whole."
Tracking technology
Because students do not sit in their seats all day, Hoekstra also tracked their movements in the classroom using trackers attached to their clothing. These were originally developed for cows in the barn to track how much time they spend at the feeding trough, for example. Hoekstra: "Trackers have previously been used on children in the playground, but not yet in the classroom. Children have less freedom and spend more time in the classroom, so it will be interesting to see how they move around there."
Hoekstra did not find a clear link between a child’s movements and their status in the group. She feels that this may be because only the movements of individual children relative to all their classmates combined were mapped. "Follow-up research will need to focus more on duo processes, between bullies and victims for example. Do they keep a distance from each other or not, and how does that affect the relationship?" In her opinion, the technology has great potential because it provides a lot of additional information about pupil interactions on a small scale.
This study is part of a research project around social safety in the classroom, from which also emerged ’ Stoeltjesdans ’: a platform that gives teachers insight into the social dynamics in their classrooms and and helps them make appropriate class assignments.
