White House conference on bullying prevention: Findings from the National Education Association's nationwide study of bullying: Teachers' and education support professionals' perspectives

This research brief reports the results of a National Education Association (NEA) survey of teachers and education support professionals (ESPs)i thataddresses the problem of bullying in America's public schools. The studyfinds that bullying is not only pervasive in the nation's schools but also widelyperceived by school staff to be a serious problem, particularly in middleschools and in schools located in urban areas. The vast majority of school staffreported that their district had implemented a bullying prevention policy.However, ESPs were significantly less likely than teachers to have receivedformal training or to have been involved in bullying prevention activities, suchas committees, teams, or prevention programs. In light of these disparities, it isnot surprising that, although ESPs were nearly as likely as their teachercounterparts to indicate that it was "their job" to intervene, they expressedsignificantly less comfort in taking action in a wide range of bullyingsituations. The fact that ESPs report high levels of connectedness to theirrespective school communities, combined with evidence that such subjectivefeelings tend to be associated with a greater willingness to intervene, suggeststhat ESPs represent an invaluable resource and should be included in thedesign and implementation of future prevention programs. The very presenceof ESPs in areas throughout the school where bullying regularly occurs-onplaygrounds, school busses, cafeterias and hallways- further substantiatesthis conclusion.