‘Under the radar’: Educators and cyberbullying in schools

Abstract

Educators play an important role in preventing cyberbullying and encouraging positive online behaviour. In this article we report on the educator portion of a study of cyberbullying at two large, technology-rich secondary schools in Canada. We discuss 17 educators’ experiences with cyberbullying, their knowledge of social networking technology, the priority they place on preventing cyberbullying, and the remedies they suggest. Qualitative analyses of taped interview responses to 16 open-ended questions revealed that they were unaware of the extent of cyberbullying among their students and although they saw prevention as a priority, and were able to pose possible solutions, no policies or programs had been implemented, even by the younger teachers, who were more technologically savvy. Nor were the educators interested in learning the results of the student portion of our research, preferring instead that cyberbullying remain under their radar.