Abstract:
The study sought to assess the impact of peer bullying on the academic performance
of students of Pope John Senior High School in the New Juaben Municipality in the
Eastern Region of Ghana. The study employed quantitative descriptive survey
research design. A sample size of 285 students was selected from a population of
1100 using a multi-staged sampling techniques comprising purposive and simple
random sampling. The study used questionnaire to collect data from students and data
were analyzed descriptively into frequencies, percentages, mean and standard
deviations using SPSS (version 23.0). The findings of the study revealed that causes
of peer bullying in Pope John SHS were peer group influence, watching violent
movies and obscene images and coming from a dysfunctional family. Also, the
findings revealed that peer bullying has negative effects on students’ academic
performance; for it discourages students from attending class, creates a negative
environment in the school, negatively affects students’ academic level and cause
students to perform poorly in school and then drop out. Finally, the findings from the
study showed that some peer bullying mitigation measures in Pope John SHS include
maintaining open lines of communication with students on a one-on-one basis, all
teachers in the classroom collaborating with students to address bullying, involving
the parents of the youngsters in a bullying prevention program and making a set of
ground rules and prospects that are both clear and enforceable. Based on these
findings, the researcher recommended that there should be a professional
development training program for teachers to be able to handle issues of bullying
effectively.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of Educational Foundations,
Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School
of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Post-Graduate Diploma
(Educational Foundations)
in the University of Education, Winneba
