The Impact of bullying on the academic performance of secondary school learners in Goromonzi area

Author

Mukoyi Nyamashiri, G.

Title

The Impact of bullying on the academic performance of secondary school learners in
Goromonzi area

Abstract

This study presented the findings on bullying behaviours among secondary school learners in Goromonzi Area. The aim of this research was to interrogate the perceptions of school heads, deputy school heads, school development committee, teachers, parents and learners about bullying behaviours among secondary schools in Goromonzi Area. The major thrust of this empirical research was to determine who the perpetrators of bullying are, explore the motivating factors of bullying among learners, establish the places where bullying often took place, establish whether there is a relationship between bullying and academic achievement and develop guidelines for the prevention of bullying in secondary schools as perceived by the school administration, teachers, parents and learners. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed in this research, in which a cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Questionnaires and interview questions were used. Story telling was also used as an instrument to gather data. The population sample was made of 58 participants, where 3 school heads, 5 deputy heads, 5 members of the school development committee, 10 teachers, 10 parents and 25 leaners were obtained through stratified random sampling. Purposive sampling was used to identify learners and parents who participated in the interview. The main causes of bullying in secondary schools were observed to be environment from which the learners’ behaviours are nurtured. Also, inappropriate parenting styles and learners’ actions observed from model status contributed to the bullying behaviours of learners. Preventive measures of bullying behaviours were included, but not limited to having awareness programmes regularly, enforcing rules and showing love to both the bullies and victims of bullying. The study recommends a collective collaboration among all educational stakeholders to combat the problem

Date

September 2022

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Bullying Behaviours

Parenting Styles

School Administration

Goromonzi Area

Supervisor

Dr Chidarikire, M.