Behind the Scenes and Screens

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the human dimension of two subtypes of bullying in an Australian schooling context. Individuals’ knowledge, understanding, and experiences of covert (behind the scenes) and cyber (behind the screens) bullying were explored through stories of what has actually been occurring in and around their schools. Participants were adolescent students (n = 20), teachers (n = 10) and school counselors (n = 6) from a variety of schools across Adelaide, South Australia. They recounted stories about covert and cyberbullying from their social networks and schooling contexts, giving authentic “voice” to these behaviors. Each narrative was uploaded to a dedicated website, contributing to an online “storybook,” and providing information rich cases that enabled “issues of central importance” ( Patton, 1987 ) to emerge. Narrative and thematic analyses revealed that covert and cyberbullying have much in common, but that cyberbullying in particular evoked strong negative feelings and emotions which included fear, as well as disruption to and dislocation from the participants’ relationships. Participants indicated that the power differential was clearly understood and there was a clear sense of helplessness associated with cyberbullying. In particular, cyberbullying was found to operate both covertly and overtly via e-technologies, across school and home boundaries.