Investigating Bullying and Exclusion in Secondary Education Report

This report examines the critical issues of bullying and exclusion within secondary education, drawing on interviews and existing literature to analyze their impact on students. The report begins by defining bullying and exclusion, highlighting their various forms and prevalence. Findings from interviews with individuals who experienced secondary education are presented, contrasting experiences across different school types and pedagogical approaches. The analysis delves into the implications of these findings for school organization, suggesting the adoption of educational theories like humanism, connectivism, and behaviorism to foster a supportive learning environment. Furthermore, the report emphasizes pedagogical themes such as creating engaging learning environments, valuing student expression and wellbeing, and fostering parent-teacher partnerships. The narrative data from the interviews informs the report's conclusions, which advocate for a teacher's role in addressing bullying and exclusion, promoting diversity, and providing guidance to students to ensure their success. The report underscores the importance of creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment, offering insights for future educators and emphasizing the need to handle young students with care and sensitivity, while citing relevant research to support the arguments presented.

Secondary Teaching
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Introduction
In recent years learning has been greatly affected by issues such as bullying, exclusion,
inclusion, various learning difficulties, and gender among other issues. These issues need to be
addressed so that learners will be in a position to learn in a favorable environment. This
particular report is going to address the issue of bullying and exclusion. This will be in regard to
the interviews conducted. First and foremost, it is best that we understand what these two terms
mean. Bullying refers to the use of force to either coerce, threat, abuse and/or intimidate
someone. This behavior is often habitual and repetitive and is most common among school
children. Bullying can take place in three main forms and these are verbal bullying, social
bullying and physical bullying (Puhl & King, 2013 p.35). Verbal bullying comprises of aspects
such as teasing and name-calling, social bullying comprises of aspects such as leaving someone
out on purpose and embarrassing someone in public. Physical bullying involves physical actions
such as hitting, kicking and/or spitting on someone.
Exclusion, on the other hand, is a situation in which individuals are blocked or denied certain
priorities and opportunities that are often available to a certain group of persons simply because
the other parties feel that the person does not fit in (Rodriguez, 2013 p.43).
These two aspects; bullying and exclusion will be discussed in regard to the interviews.
Discussion on Findings
Based on the findings from the interviews, it is clear that learning at either a public or private
school doesn't have a huge difference. Despite the curriculums being the same, private schools
are more luxurious and most of them have better educational facilities and services compared to

public schools. Most public schools, however, hardly offer some essential basic facilities and the
teaching is not up to the required standard.
Different pedagogical approaches are also used in different schools. There are various types of
pedagogical approaches that can be employed in teaching. According to the interviews,
authoritative and differentiation approaches were used. Well, these are two approaches that are
very useful in teaching (Koehler, Mishra, Cain, 2013 p.97). The differentiation approach is
where the students differentiate instruction to various students by considering their special needs
while the authoritative approach is where the teacher just focus on making the students
understands the concepts being addressed.
Various difficulties are endured by different students in different schools. Some of these
difficulties are bullying and exclusion.
Statistics show that at least 3 for every 10 students are being bullied. Based on the interviews,
bullying is a normal thing. In addition to that, even the teachers could bully the students, leave
alone fellow students. Teachers would be found on many occasions making fun of students based
on their physical appearances. Well, it’s expected that teachers should be in the forefront to
condemn such bad behaviors as bullying.
Exclusion, on the other hand, involves isolating other students with the aim of making them feel
intimidated. This is another difficulty that is endured by students in schools. Different sources
such as Follari (2015) indicate that that at least 21% of students from the age of 6-18 years old
are experiencing exclusion. Based on the interview students would be excluded because of
various reasons such as gender and physical appearance (Follari, 2015 p.60).
Implications of findings

a) In regard to school organization
The school organization is very vital towards learning as well as the development of a secondary
school child in Australia. It is therefore important that certain educational theories are adopted by
the school organization. Some of the educational learning theories that can be adopted are
outlined below;
Humanism-In this theory the individual is the subject. It often ascertains the individual that
learning is a natural process and through it, a person can accomplish a sense of self-actualization.
Role models play a very crucial role in this particular educational theory
Connectivism-This is based on the idea that individuals often process information much better by
forming connections and network formation. Learning does not just end after a formal education
but rather individuals continue to gain knowledge through various connections and networks.
Behaviorism-This explains that behavior can be explained by external factors and thus can be
used in the learning process (Dewey, 2013 p.102).
These are some of the educational theories that can be adopted by school organizations so as to
facilitate learning in secondary schools.
b) Teaching practice designed to support young children to become successful learners
Secondary school children are young children that need to be guided in the right direction for
them to become successful learners. In regard to these, there are various pedagogical themes that
need to be adopted to ensure that children become successful learners (Taylor & Hamdy, 2013
p.79).

Some of the important pedagogical themes that need to be considered are outlined below;
a) Environments-This involves learning environments. They should be designed in such a
way that they engage children's activities and their natural desire to explore as well as
discover various issues around them. Opportunities should be provided to aid the students
to connect with nature (Quay & Seaman, 2013 p.89).
b) Expression-In this an environment that is safe should be created where children and
educators are valued and their perspectives and opinions on various issues considered.
c) Wellbeing-The wellbeing of the students should be the main priority. Instances of
bullying and other irrational behavior that scares the children or make them feel
intimidated in any way should be avoided
d) Parents as partners-Parents should be at the forefront in making sure that their children
are taken good care of. In addition to that, they should also contribute to the wellbeing
and development of their children.
By considering some of the above pedagogical themes then secondary school children in
Australia will be safe and this will ensure that they become successful learners.
c) Value of narrative data for informing my work as a teacher in the future
Based on the interviews that have been presented, children often find it very difficult to manage
various difficulties such as bullying and exclusion. As a teacher, I would ensure that instances of
bullying and exclusion as well as other forms of difficulties are not tolerated in my classroom. In

addition to that, I would always encourage my students to embrace diversity. I won’t be a strict
teacher but I will ensure I am friendly. Therefore if the students will follow what I have
discussed they will be in a position to learn and succeed in their careers.
Conclusion
.This exercise has been very insightful to me. For instance, as a future teacher, I should not bully
my students or intimidate them because of their physical appearances. Teaching is a career that is
very sensitive as it involves dealing with children that look up to you for direction and guidance.
It is therefore important that one takes this into consideration and provide good guidance to the
young children. As we all know, young children are very fragile and should, therefore, be
handled with great care (Harvey & Jarrett, 2014 p.88).

References
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Follari, L., 2015. Foundations and best practices in early childhood education: History, theories,
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Rodriguez, G.M., 2013. Power and agency in education: Exploring the pedagogical dimensions
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Harvey, S. and Jarrett, K., 2014. A review of the game-centered approaches to teaching and
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Koehler, M.J., Mishra, P. and Cain, W., 2013. What is technological pedagogical content
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Puhl, R.M. and King, K.M., 2013. Weight discrimination and bullying. Best practice & research
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Quay, J. and Seaman, J., 2013. John Dewey and education outdoors: Making sense of the
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Taylor, D.C. and Hamdy, H., 2013. Adult learning theories: Implications for learning and
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