Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools
BackgroundEarly in life, children with a non-White skin color, or a non-Western cultural or religious background, are susceptible of experiencing acts of racism. Since they spend a significant time of their daily life in school, teachers have a crucial role in providing a safe and bias-free environm...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393719/full |
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| author | Karen M. A. Sieben-Aduful Roy A. Willems Trijntje Völlink Nico van der Wiel Maria Sapouna Pieter de Bruijn Gemma Blok Gemma Blok Arjan E. R. Bos Arjan E. R. Bos Giel van Lankveld |
| author_facet | Karen M. A. Sieben-Aduful Roy A. Willems Trijntje Völlink Nico van der Wiel Maria Sapouna Pieter de Bruijn Gemma Blok Gemma Blok Arjan E. R. Bos Arjan E. R. Bos Giel van Lankveld |
| author_sort | Karen M. A. Sieben-Aduful |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundEarly in life, children with a non-White skin color, or a non-Western cultural or religious background, are susceptible of experiencing acts of racism. Since they spend a significant time of their daily life in school, teachers have a crucial role in providing a safe and bias-free environment for these children. However, teachers might find it challenging to react to bullying based on racism.AimThis study aims to investigate teachers’ experiences of and reactions to racist bullying among pupils in primary schools in The Netherlands. Additionally, this study aims to explore how racism is discussed in class.MethodWith nine semi-structured in-depth interviews teachers’ attitudes and reactions toward racist bullying were examined as well as their perceived competence and skills of handling this. In addition, teachers’ availability on tools to discuss racism in class was investigated as well. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe results show that teachers emphasize a safe class climate but find it challenging addressing racist incidents, for instance determining its severity, or coping with the external influences on pupils’ racist beliefs. Most teachers also expressed to not make a distinction between racist and interpersonal bullying. While teachers expressed that they talked about racism in the classroom, it seemed that they primarily talked about cultural diversity and not racism per se.ConclusionDealing with racism and racist bullying is an important but complicated task for teachers. Providing teachers with appropriate tools to increase knowledge, awareness and skills will help them to understand the negative impact racism has on children. Further, the results implicate that a pro-active approach can stimulate teachers to critically reflect on their own racial identity, and on school methods, teaching resources and policies concerning racism. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5ce07a95f81d4e2ba961ddf481121206 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-5ce07a95f81d4e2ba961ddf4811212062025-01-23T06:56:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-01-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.13937191393719Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schoolsKaren M. A. Sieben-Aduful0Roy A. Willems1Trijntje Völlink2Nico van der Wiel3Maria Sapouna4Pieter de Bruijn5Gemma Blok6Gemma Blok7Arjan E. R. Bos8Arjan E. R. Bos9Giel van Lankveld10Faculty of Psychology, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsFaculty of Psychology, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsFaculty of Psychology, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsFaculty of Psychology, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsSchool of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, United KingdomFaculty of Humanities, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsFaculty of Humanities, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsFaculty of Humanities, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, NetherlandsFaculty of Psychology, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsCentre for Public Health, Healthcare and Society, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, NetherlandsFaculty of Educational Sciences, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, NetherlandsBackgroundEarly in life, children with a non-White skin color, or a non-Western cultural or religious background, are susceptible of experiencing acts of racism. Since they spend a significant time of their daily life in school, teachers have a crucial role in providing a safe and bias-free environment for these children. However, teachers might find it challenging to react to bullying based on racism.AimThis study aims to investigate teachers’ experiences of and reactions to racist bullying among pupils in primary schools in The Netherlands. Additionally, this study aims to explore how racism is discussed in class.MethodWith nine semi-structured in-depth interviews teachers’ attitudes and reactions toward racist bullying were examined as well as their perceived competence and skills of handling this. In addition, teachers’ availability on tools to discuss racism in class was investigated as well. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe results show that teachers emphasize a safe class climate but find it challenging addressing racist incidents, for instance determining its severity, or coping with the external influences on pupils’ racist beliefs. Most teachers also expressed to not make a distinction between racist and interpersonal bullying. While teachers expressed that they talked about racism in the classroom, it seemed that they primarily talked about cultural diversity and not racism per se.ConclusionDealing with racism and racist bullying is an important but complicated task for teachers. Providing teachers with appropriate tools to increase knowledge, awareness and skills will help them to understand the negative impact racism has on children. Further, the results implicate that a pro-active approach can stimulate teachers to critically reflect on their own racial identity, and on school methods, teaching resources and policies concerning racism.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393719/fullracismracist bullyingperceived competenceclass climateeducational materialsupport needs |
| spellingShingle | Karen M. A. Sieben-Aduful Roy A. Willems Trijntje Völlink Nico van der Wiel Maria Sapouna Pieter de Bruijn Gemma Blok Gemma Blok Arjan E. R. Bos Arjan E. R. Bos Giel van Lankveld Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools Frontiers in Psychology racism racist bullying perceived competence class climate educational material support needs |
| title | Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools |
| title_full | Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools |
| title_fullStr | Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools |
| title_short | Teachers’ responses to racism and racist bullying in Dutch primary schools |
| title_sort | teachers responses to racism and racist bullying in dutch primary schools |
| topic | racism racist bullying perceived competence class climate educational material support needs |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393719/full |
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