Academic literature on the topic 'School harassment'

Degree awarded (2003): EdDC, Counseling, Human and Organizational Studies, George Washington University<br>This study was designed to examine the perception and incidence of sexual harassment and determine the incidence of sexual harassment in relation to girls participating in high school athletics. The similarities and differences of interpretation of various interactions between high school athletes with their male and female athletic coaches were examined. This study also investigated the actual incidence of sexual harassment by male and female high school athletic coaches as reported by female athletes.<p>The study population included male and female athletic coaches currently coaching a female high school athletic team and female college students who participated in high school athletics.</p><p>This researcher, in order to accommodate the study population and research questions, adapted the Sexual Harassment Survey (1995) by Margery J. Holman, Ph.D. Female student athletes and male and female coaches responded to survey questions on demographics and their perceptions and understanding of described behaviors. The student athletes completed an additional section of the survey pertaining to their experience of sexual harassment.</p><p>Descriptive statistics (including frequencies and percentages as well as means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (One-Way Analysis of Variance with a Scheffe test of significance) were used to analyze the data.</p><p>A comparison of the responses of all three groups (female athletes, male coaches and female coaches) to questions pertaining to perceptions of sexual harassment indicated agreement among the groups in the identification of inappropriate behaviors. However, there was a significant difference in the level of agreement for seven described behaviors. In general, male and female coaches agreed with each other more often than with female athletes when identifying the behaviors associated with sexual harassment. The investigation of incidence indicated that female athletes experienced more behaviors associated with sexual harassment from male coaches than from female coaches. Understanding that the same behaviors were identified by female athletes, male coaches and female coaches, it can be concluded that inappropriate behavior was consistently identified, but the identification of sexual harassment does not necessarily diminish the incidence of sexual harassment.</p><br>Advisory Committee: Dr. Lori Lefcourt, Dr. Chris Erickson, Dr. Patricia Sullivan, Dr. Janet C. Heddesheimer, Dr. Donald C. Linkowski (Chair)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2004.<br>Title from title page screen, viewed May 18, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Matthew S. Hesson-McInnis (chair), John B. Pryor, Eros R. DeSouza, Adena B. Meyers, Kathleen McKinney. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-152) and abstract. Also available in print.

Sexual harassments in schools have been identified as one of the factors preventing girls from attending education. Moreover, both female and male students who attend education and witness male teachers harassing female students may perpetuate this behaviour. In Mozambique, research addressing sexual abuse and harassments in school focus on the fact that decrees and policies on zero-tolerance against sexual abuse are not followed up properly. There is little research addressing how students perceive the issue, and even less on male students’ understanding of the phenomenon in relations to female students’ understanding. This study took place at two schools in Maputo, Mozambique, and examines what approach students in secondary school and university, as well as adults working around these students have upon sexual harassments and abuse in school. Furthermore, officials and informants at NGOs addressing gender issues and sexual harassments in schools were interviewed. The purpose was to find out how the informants described the phenomenon, what they believed were the reasons behind it and how they thought it could be prevented. The result has been analysed through a gender and power analysis. The study uses the social constructionist theory of gender, recognising that gender is constructed through interaction and expectations of people (Francis &amp; Skelton 2005:28), and Collen’s (1996) theory of hegemonic masculinity, which explains how the patriarchy is legitimised. Further, in order to analyse the result, Allen’s (1998) theories of power-over, power-to and power-with as well as Lukes’ (2005) theories of different dimensions of power have been used. The informants described sexual harassments as occurring between male teachers and female students at the schools. However, there was a discrepancy between the male and the female students’ perception of whether it is the male teacher or the female student who is the harasser. Despite this, the informants agreed on sexual harassments occurring between female teachers and male students being rare. The explanations to why it occurs range from the patriarchal structures, myths claiming that an older man is given good luck if having sex with a virgin, the female students’ fear of failing in school if not saying yes to the teacher, her interest in getting material benefits and her lack of interest in studying, to the male teacher’s lack of ability to control himself sexually. The different explanations were given depending on how the informant described the phenomenon. This also led to different conclusions to what should be done to come to an end to sexual harassments. An issue brought up was the difficulties to report harassments and the lack of punishment towards the teachers. Further, some believed that the female students should be subjected to awareness raising in order to dress properly and focus on the studies. While the risk of the male students perpetuating the behaviour of male teachers harassing female students is prevalent, the female students interviewed have the power to say no to the teachers, but not the power-to report. There are a number of organisations addressing the issue in different ways and there are regulations on how to report. However, in order to work holistically with the issue, the male students have to be included in the work and the organisations have to co-ordinate their measures in order to find a solution to the problem.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW)<br>This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of adolescents with regard to sexual harassment within the school environment. It was considered in the light of actual cases reported on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape where adolescent girls sought counselling after being sexually harassed over a period of time, and were eventually sexually assaulted on their school grounds, by their peers. A qualitative methodological approach was utilised, and the sample was made up of nine adolescent females and one adolescent male between the ages of 15 and 17 years, who were asked to participate on a voluntary basis. Their selection followed purposive sampling at two selected high schools on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape. The research instrument used was an unstructured interview with an open-ended question to allow the participant to share openly and freely. Sound ethical considerations were taken into account throughout the study. Phenomenology was used as a theoretical framework and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The four key themes, or essence of the adolescents’ lived experiences, that emerged for the study were: (1) boys don’t respect girls’ sexuality, (2) boys demonstrate power over girls, (3) girls who are sexually harassed at school are publicly humiliated, (4) reporting procedures at schools are inadequate. From the themes I concluded that for the girls, key principles relating to human rights within the South African Constitution were being violated; namely, the right to non-discrimination, the right to human dignity and the right to a safe school environment. Recommendations were made that address the role of the national and regional education departments as well as that of social workers.