Investigation the Teacher’s Role on Bullying in Millenial Era for

Elementary School in Medan City

Reni Asmara Ariga

, Siti Zahara Nasution

, Cholina Trisa Siregar

, Muhammad Taufik

, Fajar

Amanah Ariga

and Sri Budi Astuti

Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematic and Natural Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Bullying, Role, Teacher, Elementary School.

Abstract: The bullying problems or repetitive acts of violence that are insulting to victims who feel powerless at

school, are seen to occur in various parts of the world with increasing frequency. Teachers play an important

role in facing some students who are classified as problematic students in school. The teacher's role prevents

bullying behavior which includes the role of initiator/initiator, as a builder of antibullying networks, and as

a supervisor. This study aims to determine the role of teachers in preventing bullying behavior. The design

of this study was descriptive with sampling using cluster sampling, the sample consisted of 110 elementary

school teachers in Medan City. The results of this study indicate. The teacher's role in preventing

elementary school bullying as the initiator/initiator was 61.82%, as a builder of the 65.45% antibullying

network, and as supervisor 74.55%. Thus schools are expected to form policies to prevent bullying behavior

by maximizing Counseling Guidance (CG) for perpetrators and victims of bullying.

1 INTRODUCTION

Childhood is an early stage of development. Usually,

they always want to know and try something new

seen or known from the surrounding environment,

starting from the family environment, school,

playmates and the community. All knowledge both

positive and negative will be accepted and

responded to by children according to their

respective personalities (Musu-Gillette et al., 2017).

Childhood does more activities outside the home

such as school activities, extracurricular activities,

and playing with friends. In children, the influence

of the environment in determining the recognized

behavior is quite strong. Even though the child has

reached an adequate stage of cognitive development

to determine his own actions, the determination in

behaving is much influenced by the pressure of peer

groups. One of the problems associated with social

relationships or relationships in children is bullying

(Juvonen & Schacter, 2016).

The 2016 National Center for Educational

Statistics survey found that 33% of school children

experienced one to two times of bullying in school

in the United States while 84% of Indonesian

children experienced violence at school while the

ICRW (International Center for Research on

Women) survey. The problem of violence is rooted

in bullying. Bullying behavior has an impact on

children's growth and development. It can even lead

to acts of violence, beatings, and murder (ICRW,

2015).

A national survey in the United States of more

than 15,000 students from grades one to ten, nearly

one in three students said that they had been victims

of bullying. In this study, children who were insulted

said that they felt lonely and had difficulties in

making friendships, insomnia, anxiety to depression.

Students who are victims of bullying can feel

tortured both in the short term and in the long term.

They can be depressed, lose interest in going to

school, or even don't want to go to school (Center

for Disease Control, 2017).

The effects of bullying have a negative impact on

relationships with friends and family 14% and 9%

mental health and self-confidence disorders 19%.

The effects of childhood bullying can last into

adulthood. A longitudinal study of male victims of

bullying when they were in elementary school

showed that in their 20s they were more likely to

464

Ariga, R., Nasution, S., Siregar, C., Tauﬁk, M., Ariga, F. and Astuti, S.

Investigation the Teacher’s Role on Bullying in Millenial Era for Elementary School in Medan City.

DOI: 10.5220/0010205000002775

In Proceedings of the 1st International MIPAnet Conference on Science and Mathematics (IMC-SciMath 2019), pages 464-468

ISBN: 978-989-758-556-2

feel depressed and inferior than those who had never

been victimized (Musu-Gillette et al., 2017).

Education is one of the efforts to form a fully

qualified human, both academically and personality.

School is the spearhead institution that determines

success or failure to achieve these goals. There are

several factors that influence the smooth

implementation of education programs in schools,

both internal and external factors. Internal factors

are everything that comes from the students

themselves, such as pleasure in learning, student

motivation, physical, psychological, and

intelligence. External factors are everything that

comes from outside the student such as the student

environment, in the form of the design of the place

of learning, the availability of facilities and

infrastructure, and which is no less important is the

relationship or relationship between students and

students, as well as students and teachers (Espelages,

2016).

The teacher has the role of being an educator,

supervisor, and role model for students. Teachers

play an important role in facing some students who

are classified as problematic students in a school

such as being involved in aggression behaviors

which include bullying, opposition, or other

dangerous behavior. The teacher can refer the

student to meet with the school counselor. The

teacher can also motivate/approach other students

who are victims to increase self-esteem (Yoon et al.,

2014). This is very effective in reducing the anxiety

and fear experienced by victims (Thornberg et al.,

2017).

Bullying is a serious problem that can cause a

traumatic effect on the victims, students become less

enthusiastic about doing learning activities, the

concentration decreases, and performance drops

dramatically. For this reason, it is necessary,

comprehensive handling by involving students,

parents, and teachers to ensure that all students can

learn safely and free from the risk of fear (Patchin &

Hinduja, 2016).

2 METHOD

This research uses descriptive design. The study was

conducted on 110 primary school teachers in 11

elementary schools in Medan city. The side

technique used is cluster sampling. The instrument

used is a questionnaire.

This questionnaire consists of two parts, namely

the first demographic data (age, level of education,

religion, and ethnicity), the second questionnaire the

role of teacher prevents bullying behavior which

consists of 15 statements where 11 positive

statements and 4 negative statements. The test value

of the questionnaire validity is 1 and the reliability

test value r is 0.78.

3 RESULTS

The characteristics of teacher respondents were

follow of the Table 1.

Table 1: Teacher Frequency Distribution Based on

Demographic Characteristics (n = 110).

Category f %

Age

20-40

41-60

59,09

40,91

Education

Diploma

Bachelor

Magister

9,09

86,36

4,54

Religion

Moslem

Cristian

Catholic

Hindu

Budha

60,91

31,82

7,27

Culture

Karo

Batak

Javanese

Other

19,09

49,09

22,73

9,09

Table 1 shown the Teacher Frequency

Distribution Based on Demographic Characteristics.

The majority of respondents were 20-40 old

(59.09%), the majority of education respondents

were graduate (S1) (86.36%) the majority of

religion respondents were Moslem (60.91%). The

majority of culture respondents (49.09%) were

Batak.

The Frequency distribution of respondents

related to bullying prevention efforts through the

role of teachers can be seen in the figure 1.

Investigation the Teacher’s Role on Bullying in Millenial Era for Elementary School in Medan City

465

Figure 1: Frequency distribution of respondents related to

bullying prevention efforts through the role of teachers (n

= 110).

Based on the results of the study it was found

that prevention of bullying through the role of

teachers as initiators (61.82%), the construction of

anti-bullying networks (65.45%), supervisors

(74.55%).

The frequency distribution of respondents related

to the implementation of bullying prevention efforts

through the role of teachers can be seen in Figure 2

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of respondents related to

the implementation of bullying prevention efforts through

the role of teachers (n = 110).

Based on the results of the study, it was found

that the prevention of bullying through the role of

teachers in the implementation level was mostly in

the good category of 79.09%.

4 DISCUSSION

The results showed that the three teacher roles

prevented this bullying behavior. 79.09% was

implemented well. This means that the teacher has

carried out his role in accordance with his position in

the school. As educators who care about the well-

being and comfort of their students in learning and

living in the school, a teacher should look for the

latest information in meeting those needs. Regarding

bullying, the participation of teachers is expected to

reduce bullying cases in schools (Campaert et al.,

2017). If a teacher has received information about

bullying, the teacher will more easily carry out his

role as an initiator/initiator to propose a policy that

must be made by the school with the aim of

preventing bullying behavior in school (Puhl et al.,

2016).

The teacher's role in preventing bullying

behavior as initiator/initiator of 61.82% is done well.

This is in line with one of the four main steps in the

process of reducing and preventing bullying

proposed by (Christian et al., 2015), which collects

as much knowledge as possible about the

phenomenon of bullying and investigates the causes

of bullying by talking to students when students

have problems. However, from the respondents'

answers to 2 negative questions, namely the teacher

participated in criticizing students when students had

deficiencies or mistakes and when students carried

out bullying actions the teacher just kept silent there

were still 5 respondents (4.55%) who answered

correctly. This can happen because there is no

specific policy in handling bullying cases in the

elephant foundation school (Campaert et al., 2017).

Most people think that the problem of bullying is

just a student/student problem so that it intensifies

the attention of the student or the aggressor. Even

though the teacher's indifference towards students

also contributes to the factor of exelator

(preservation) the continuity of bullying events.

Therefore, if the teacher does not pay full attention

to this problem, then everything will become

immovable (Garandeau et al., 2016).

The role of the teacher can also begin to nurture

a practice called peer support, which is to appoint a

number of students who have the potential to

become friends to assist their friends who are

potentially bullied and need assistance. This system

is present for the awareness that children tend to be

more open to sharing their peers with their peers

compared to their teachers. The role of homeroom

teacher in overcoming bullying is actually very

dominant, considering that children are usually more

open to homeroom (Thornberg et al., 2017).

The teacher's role in preventing bullying

behavior as a builder of the 65.45% antibullying

network was carried out well. This is in line with the

results of research by (Garandeau et al., 2016) which

states that teachers have collaborated with other

personnel in the school, both in collaboration with

school principals and other subject teachers.

This is also in line with the research conducted

by (Han et al., 2018) stating that it is important to

IMC-SciMath 2019 - The International MIPAnet Conference on Science and Mathematics (IMC-SciMath)

466

look at their respective positions in the prevention of

bullying, so cooperation can be done well. The role

of the teacher can also begin to nurture a practice

called peer support, which is to appoint a number of

students who have the potential to become friends to

assist their friends who are potentially bullied and

need assistance. This system is present for the

awareness that children tend to be more open to

sharing their peers with their peers compared to their

teachers. However, 1 negative question was that the

teacher gave a severe sentence to students who did

bullying as many as 16 respondents answered

correctly (14.55%). The perpetrators of indirect

bullying should be given severe penalties, but there

are several punitive processes that must be accepted

by the perpetrators of bullying ranging from verbal

reprimands, written penalties, parents' calls to

dropouts. The list of consequences for perpetrators

of bullying in accordance with the type of bullying

behavior and the frequency of carrying out bullying

behavior should be established (Reiger et al., 2017).

One of the causes of violence in the education

environment is the school factor. The level of

supervision in the school determines how much and

often the occurrence of bullying events. The low

level of supervision in schools is closely related to

the development of bullying behavior among

students. The importance of supervision is carried

out mainly on the playground and field because

usually in both places bullying behavior is often

carried out (Limber et al., 2018).

Appropriate handling of teachers or supervisors

of bullying events is important because bullying

behavior that is not handled properly will cause the

possibility of the behavior to repeat itself (Reiger et

al., 2017). As supervisors, the teachers take turns

monitoring around the school, so there is no bullying

behavior in their students. Places where bullying

often occurs include canteens, toilets, sports fields,

and school gates. In this case, the school leader has

enough role as a figure and supervisor of the

antibullying movement to ensure that the role of the

teacher as a driver of antibullying in the field can be

done well (Russell et al., 2015).

The teacher's role in preventing bullying

behavior as a supervisor in the junior high school

elephant made median education foundation 74.55%

was done well. However, 1 negative question is that

the teacher immediately expels students when

students do bullying in the classroom as many as 17

respondents answered correctly (15.45%). Teachers

should not immediately expel students when

students do bullying in the classroom, but some

problems only require minor (minor) intervention,

these problems are usually behaviors that usually

interfere with class activities and teaching-learning

processes (Whitley et al., 2018). Effective minor

intervention strategies include using nonverbal cues,

namely by establishing eye contact with students,

then giving a signal by placing your index finger on

your lips, shaking your head, or using hand signals

to stop the behavior. In addition, the teacher can

approach the student and then give instructions to

stop the action (Puhl et al., 2016).

5 CONCLUSION

The Bullying prevention efforts through the role of

teachers are very important to be done to minimize

bullying behavior among elementary school

children. It is expected that the role of the teacher as

initiator/initiator can move the school to

immediately form a policy of preventing bullying

behavior by setting sanctions for perpetrators of

bullying and preventing traumatic effects by

maximizing Counseling Guidance (BK) in order to

provide counseling for victims of bullying.

As educators who care about the well-being and

comfort of their students in learning and living in the

school, a teacher should look for the latest

information in meeting those needs. Regarding

bullying, the participation of teachers is expected to

reduce bullying cases in schools (Sejiwa, 2008). If a

teacher has received information about bullying, the

teacher will more easily carry out his role as an

initiator/initiator to propose a policy that must be

made by the school with the aim of preventing

bullying behavior in school.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge that the present

research is supported by Ministry of Research and

Technology and Higher Education Republic of

Indonesia.

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