Canadian Educators' Roles and Perceptions in Responding and Intervening in Online Harm: A Sociological Analysis
Date
2022-12-08
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Abstract
Intense social media use today puts youth at risk for problems that contribute to addictive behaviours, social withdrawal and online harm like cyberbullying and sexting. While most cyberbullying incidents occur at home, the problems spill over to the classroom, making it an issue that educators cannot ignore. Currently, schools shoulder the responsibility to address online harm; however, ambiguity regarding how cyberbullying is conceptualized creates a challenge for school staff to keep pace with providing adequate protection for their students. Thus, to support schools in developing effective online harm interventions, this study aims to understand how Canadian K-12 school teachers perceive cyberbullying, its root causes and the perceived barriers that complicate school efforts to build a culture that prevents online harm. While several studies have examined students’ perceptions of cyberbullying, there is a critical gap in the research literature about how in-service and pre-service educators make sense of cyberbullying. A qualitative methods approach was employed, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 educators (eight pre-service teachers, seven early-career in-service teachers and eight late-career in-service teachers) to advance knowledge regarding current attitudes and beliefs about intervention, the content and benefits of teacher-training programs and technology policies in Canadian schools. Semi-structured interview protocols were used, and symbolic interactionism was employed to construe the meaning-making process of educators’ perceptions of cyberbullying. The interview data was reviewed and coded using NVivo qualitative data analysis software to identify the predominant themes. The findings of the thesis suggest that prospective and current teachers recognize that cyberbullying and sexting are escalating issues that present a problem in the school environment. The teachers use different strategies to manage cyberbullying, particularly in the context of the unique characteristics associated with cyberbullying and sexting. Finally, in terms of the perceptions related to training to mitigate problems like cyberbullying, pre-service educators’ responses suggest that not many have adequate classroom management training before beginning their teaching careers and feel unprepared for managing student behaviours, both offline and online, in their classrooms. The research presented in the thesis offers a unique contribution to the literature and extends the knowledge base on how cyberbullying is managed in the school environment.
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Keywords
Cyberbullying, Sexting, Online Harm, Restorative Justice, K-12 Education System, Educators, Pre-service Educators
Citation
Mukherjee, M. (2022). Canadian educators’ roles and perceptions in responding and intervening in online harm: a sociological analysis (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.