Bullying, Law and Pre-service Teachers’ Perspectives: Australian and Indian Contexts
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Date
2018
Authors
Langos, C.
Spears, B.
Taddeo, C.
Ey, L.
Carslake, T.
Stretton, A.
Sandhu, D.
Sundaram, S.
Editors
Smith, P.
Sundaram, S.
Spears, B.
Blaya, C.
Schafer, M.
Sandhu, D.
Sundaram, S.
Spears, B.
Blaya, C.
Schafer, M.
Sandhu, D.
Advisors
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Book chapter
Citation
Bullying, Cyberbullying and Pupil Well-being in Schools: Comparing European, Australian and Indian Perspectives, 2018 / Smith, P., Sundaram, S., Spears, B., Blaya, C., Schafer, M., Sandhu, D. (ed./s), Ch.14, pp.285-314
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Abstract
Teachers are placed in a special position of power and care over schoolchildren and students in higher education contexts. Teachers therefore ought to be empowered with regard to the laws which govern these behaviours. Pre-service teachers thus also need to acquire skills which enable them to support children who may be exposed to bullying regardless of the medium of delivery. Currently in Australia, a matrix of existing civil and criminal laws operates to regulate serious behaviours related to bullying. At present, there is a dearth of literature exploring the laws governing bullying and cyberbullying in India. This chapter firstly examined existing statutes and relevant jurisprudence in relation to bullying, cyberbullying and other culturally relevant behaviours, such as ragging and Eve teasing. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, Indian and Australian pre-service teachers’ knowledge of relevant laws and how existing laws regulate these behaviours, were explored. PSTs in both contexts clearly need to engage more with the legal frameworks in place so that they can enhance their capacity to successfully intervene and provide accurate information when they move out into schools as graduate teachers, to be able to make informed decisions about appropriate disciplinary action and when the matter should be reported to the police for investigation, and to provide some initial guidance as to where victims in their care may be able to seek external assistance.
School/Discipline
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Copyright 2018 Peter K. Smith, Suresh Sundaram, Barbara A. Spears, Catherine Blaya, Mechthild Schäfer and Damanjit Sandhu
Access Condition Notes: Published version available on Open Access after 1 January 2019