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Abstract

An earlier study reported the use of Quality Circles (QC) in a UK school in the context of understanding and reducing bullying and cyberbullying. Here, we report further work in the same school setting. The QC approach allows explorative analysis of problems in school settings, whereby students embark on a problem-solving exercise over a period of time. The process involves identifying key issues and prioritizing concerns, analysing problems and generating solutions, through participation in a series of workshops. The purpose of this research was to explore further the use of QCs as an effective means of gathering information on bullying and cyberbullying in school, and how these might have changed over one academic year; as well as to examine the use of QCs in empowering pupils and in producing pupil-led solutions. This study validated the use of QCs as an engaging process for pupils (N = 30) which encourages a range of suggested solutions to problems. The information gained from the QCs supported a transitory notion of bullying behaviour, whereby forms of bullying and cyberbullying continue to alter over time, thus prevention programmes must adapt to the changeable nature of this behaviour to remain effective.

Keywords

bullying cyberbullying intervention Quality Circle school students

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Revisiting cyberbullying in schools using the quality circle approach

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