Addressing Bullying in Primary Education

Posted on Mar 17, 2025 in Other civil servant exams

Bullying in Primary Education

This essay deals with bullying, a real issue present in our daily lives, especially in Primary Education.

Framework and Legal Context

First, I will relate this issue to the legal framework. Secondly, I will discuss the symptoms and the impact of this problem in English lessons. After that, I will analyze different processes and activities to discuss and reduce this matter in class. Next, I will review the importance of having a secure and comfortable environment in English lessons. Finally, I will conclude my essay and highlight the main ideas.

This issue is addressed in the following legislation:

  • Organic Law 2/2006 of Education, 3rd May
  • Organic Law 8/2013, 9th December, for the Improvement in Educational Quality
  • Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th February
  • In Castilla y León: Order EDU/519/2014, 17th of June, and Decree 51/2007, 17th May

These laws establish the framework for coexistence and discipline in educational centers in the autonomous region of Castilla y León. All schools must plan and manage the relationship between the agents of the educational community to favor:

  • The integral development of the person.
  • The acquisition of adequate behaviors to coexist better.
  • Prevent and create positive attitudes towards others.
  • Solve conflicts through dialogue.

The teacher’s work in the classroom must contribute to strengthening respect for human rights and basic liberties and for all the values that prepare students to play a responsible role in a free and democratic society. These seem to be the best general guidelines to follow when we want to maintain discipline in class.

Symptoms and Impact of Bullying

Students who suffer bullying have symptoms like not sleeping well, feeling sad, and experiencing headaches and tummy aches. These factors will affect their efficiency in English class. All these signs are followed by an absent-minded child with low self-esteem and low motivation, components that will result in lower grades.

Activities to Address Bullying in the English Lesson

In the English lesson, we can provide our students with a great number of activities that deal with the bullying issue. For example:

  1. Reading Comprehension: Present the topic with a reading comprehension activity in which students can understand the situation proposed.
  2. Small Group Reflection: Students reflect on the text and share their opinions in small groups.
  3. Whole Class Debate: Facilitate a whole-class debate with questions like:
    • What is the text about?
    • Who are the main characters?
    • What happens to the characters?
    • How is the character feeling?
    • Do you think that is good behavior in class? Why not?
    • What solutions can we propose?
    • Can you identify any of these acts in the class? Which ones?

This approach guides children to reflect and think about the dilemma, following a flipped classroom model.

The positive aspects of these activities are that students will acquire communicative competence through reading and dialogue, using cooperative learning to reinforce a significant way of learning. This means that students must work with the information themselves and then adapt this information to the required context.

Conclusion

To sum up, the teacher must offer students guidance to reflect and direct their capacities to solve their problems and create positive attitudes. This is an example of a different way of dealing with a bullying situation in class, providing competency-based activities; that is to say, concepts and ideas that are around us in our daily life and context.

Bibliography

The bibliography used to develop this practical case includes:

  • ANDERSON, & KRATHWOHL (2001). Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing. New York: Longman.
  • BREWSTER, J. ELLIS, G. and GIRARD, D. (2002). The Primary English Teacher’s Guide, New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, Essex, U.K.
  • COUNCIL OF EUROPE. (2003). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • EMMER, E.T. & GERWELS, M.C. (2002). Cooperative Learning in elementary classrooms: Teaching practices and lesson characteristics. The Elementary School Journal.
  • GARDNER, H. (2001): Reformulated Intelligence. Multiple Intelligences in XXI Century. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
  • HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 2008 (4th ed.)
  • NUNAN, D. (2010): Language Teaching Methodology. University Press.
  • RICHARDS, J. (2010). Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Great Britain, UK: Longman.

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