Bullying in schools is quite common. In fact, it is a systematic problem that needs to be dealt with the sooner the better. It has been reported that 1 in 5 students have been bullied in school. Bullying is done to cause harm and express aggressive behavior. Students who get bullied in school feel powerless and threatened.

On one side, bullying can be quite persistent and destructive, but on the other side, it can also be subtle enough for teachers to identify it. Teachers need to recognize the signs of bullying and also know how to combat this problem because bullying can lead to permanent emotional, physical, and psychological problems.

Types of Bullying

Before teachers can understand the main causes of bullying, they need to know the types of bullying so they can immediately recognize the signs. Students are likely to experience three types of bullying: direct bullying, indirect bullying, and cyberbullying. Now, let us understand each type of bullying in detail.

Direct bullying refers to physical and verbal bullying. Verbal bullying takes place when the bully uses spoken or written comments that are emotionally damaging to the victim. On the other hand, physical bullying involves the bully to physically harm the victim. An example of direct bullying is using foul language or mean comments while also hitting someone.

Indirect bullying involves only verbal bullying. An example of indirect bullying would be a student spreading rumours about another student with the intent to cause him/her humiliation.

Cyberbullying is the third type of bullying where a bully causes harm to the victim on the internet. The bully can send mean comments and damaging content to the victim on social media platforms. A common example of cyberbullying is a bully sharing someone’s private photo or video on the internet without their consent.

Since cyberbullying takes place on the internet, it becomes really difficult for teachers to detect it.

What are the Main Causes of Bullying?

There are various causes of bullying. Any student in school can become a target of bullying irrespective of their gender, religion, race, or socioeconomic status.

Once teachers understand why students bully each other in school, they are able to combat it in a better way. Various factors can lead to bullying and they include differences in sexual orientation, religion, appearance, race, and social status.

Some students having a higher self-confidence bully other students because they lack empathy and compassion towards other people and can respond in an aggressive manner whenever they feel they are being threatened.

On the other hand, some students also bully others because they want to be perceived as confident and brave enough to cause harm. Students who have experienced abuse and neglect at home can bully others at school due to anger and despair within them.

Those students whose parents abuse them at home and ignore them end up feeling depressed and lonely. To express their resentment, they bully vulnerable and innocent students at school.

If teachers come across seeing these signs in students, they can easily identify that it’s bullying. Once teachers recognize the bullying signs, they can take important steps to combat bullying in schools.