Indonesian Head Teachers’ Understanding about Bullying and Its Relation to Action, Policies and Programs in Tackling it
A sufficient understanding of bullying is necessary for every school leader. Thus, they will then be able to undertake prevention action before bullying incidents appear at school. This case study research seeks to discover Head Teachers’ understanding about bullying, how this understanding is related to actions, programs and policies manifested at school and how these issues differ between state and private elementary schools. The study was carried out in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, in Indonesia. Six Head Teachers were selected by employing a purposive sampling method. Three participants came from state elementary schools and the other three came from private elementary schools. A semi-structured interview was employed to gather the data. This was then coded, sorted and analysed by performing the content analysis method. Furthermore, in organising the data, a constant comparative approach was also implemented to review and search for the key issues or other aspects within which later became the focus categories. The findings of the study concluded that Head Teachers’ understanding of bullying was very limited. As a result, the study found no direct actions, programs and written anti-bullying policy in place to tackle bullying. However, some programs were identified to have a role in preventing bullying. These focused on promoting good behaviour. Finally, the study also discovered a slight difference between state and private elementary schools, and in respect of these programs. Namely that the private schools utilized more of these programs. The study was found to be immediately useful for all participants and the researcher. A seminar to address the issue of bullying was arranged to be held in the following months in all of the sampled schools.