Percepção docente sobre bullying no ensino superior

Abstract

Bullying is characterized as a form of violence to an individual who is weaker or at a disadvantage compared to the aggressor in a repetitive or chronic manner. Many believe that this phenomenon occurs only in elementary and high schools. However, it has been found that this practice also occurs in higher education. The violent practice in the university context may even be perceived as natural, considering that it is a place that: a) includes individuals with diverse behavioral, cultural, economic, ethnic, physical, psychological, and social characteristics; b) maintains a culture of pressure with deadlines, lack of general support (from advisors, family, colleagues, friends), even lack of financial resources to continue studies. With this in mind, the objective of the present work was to know the perception about bullying of teachers from a public multi-campi higher education institution. The research is classified as basic strategic in nature, with a quantitative-qualitative data analysis approach and a descriptive focus. Thirty-four professors who work in higher education participated in this research, 73.5% being male and 26.5% female. Data collection was carried out by means of an online questionnaire, containing open and closed questions. Absolute frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative analysis was based on content analysis. As main quantitative results can be cited: (i) swearing is the type of verbal bullying, practiced by students, most witnessed by teachers, with 70.6%, followed by receiving a derogatory nickname for being overweight, with 67.6% and insults for being effeminate or masculinized, with 55.9%; ii) regarding psychological or moral bullying, practiced by students, spreading gossip about other students was the most witnessed, with 76.5%, followed by offensive jokes with a student for his way of speaking, with 64.7%, exposure of colleagues for their unsatisfactory academic performance, with 63.5%, and offensive jokes with a student because of his sexual orientation, with 58.8%; iii) the type of bullying most practiced by teachers, in the participants' perception, is the exposure of students due to their academic performance, with 64.7%. As for the qualitative results, it can be said that few of the professors who witnessed bullying situations felt impelled to intervene (only eight of n=25); who recognized very few institutional activities carried out on the campus where they work, as only 10 (ten) of the 34 (thirty-four) participating professors mentioned having knowledge of actions such as lectures, film screenings, conversation circles, etc. involving this theme; and the suggested coping strategies were actions directed at victims and the community as a whole. It is concluded that teachers need to perceive themselves as co-responsible for promoting a healthy learning environment. It is necessary to sensitize them so that they can identify and repress the practice of bullying, making the academic environment an environment of ethical citizens, who value the dignity of others, with the aim of building a more humane world.