Opinions of the members of teams for protection in secondary schools on the quality of in-service training programmes in relation to bullying prevention and intervention

Abstract

In-service training programmes are an important mechanism for improving teachers? competencies in bullying prevention and intervention within the education system of Serbia. Evaluation of the quality of these programmes is mainly based on the registration of participants? first impressions after the completion of training programmes, but there is a lack of reliable data on their effectiveness, especially on whether such training programmes provide adequate teacher training on bullying prevention and intervention. Therefore, this paper presents the results of research aimed at finding out what members of school Teams for Protection think about the quality of these programmes after they had the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in practice. The research used a semi-structured interview with three questions to collect data on the content of the programmes, interviewees? satisfaction with the quality of the programmes, their opinions on the perceived shortcomings of the programmes, and suggestions for improvement. For the research, 42 members of the Teams for Protection in 18 Belgrade secondary schools were interviewed. In processing the data, qualitative thematic analysis of the content was conducted, based on statements of the interviewees. The research findings suggest that the programmes, taken as a whole, do not provide participants with the necessary competencies to deal with bullying, although they are potentially effective in some aspects. The implications of this research relate to the need to change the content of the programmes and human resources capacities for their application, as well as to improve the criteria for their accreditation.