IN-SERVICE AND PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON CYBERBULLING

Abstract

A fundamental resource in educational programs for preventing and
combating cyberbullying are the teachers. Although cyberbullying can
happen anywhere in the virtual environment, the formal educational
environment is conductive to preventive interventions for all pupils of a
class (Wölfer, R., Schultze-Krumbholz, A., Zagorscak, P., Jäkel, A., Göbel,
K ., & Scheithauer, H. (2014) Based on these prerequisites, we have
carried out a study on the in -service and pre-service teachers enrolled at
"Aurel Vlaicu" University of Arad, aiming at: identifying how teachers
understand concrete manifestations of cyberbullying and recognize a
victim-student of cyberbullying, identifying the role of responsible persons
in preventing and combating this phenomenon, identifying solutions to
combat cyberbullying, identifying the training needs of teachers in the
field of prevention and combating cyberbullying. The results shown that
the teachers have a non-nuanced representation on the phenomenon of
cyberbullying, they stressed the need for training on the topic and
considered that parents are the main responsible for children education
as regarding safety in virtual environment. The study also highlighted that
the phenomenon of cyberbullying is the problem of the whole society, and
its solving cannot be left to the sole responsibility of a single institution /
factor: "Combating cyberbullying is a current issue that should be
debated by each of us. The involvement of everyone is very important.
"(V.D