The Opinions of Academic Staff on Peer Bullying in Higher Education

The aim of this study is to examine academic staff opinions on peer bul-lying in higher education institutions. In this phenomenological study, the data were collected by using a semi-structured interview form with 14 academic staff members teaching in public universities in Istanbul, Ankara, Edirne, Izmir, and Manisa. The obtained qualitative data were analyzed by using MAXQDA and coded under certain themes. The find-ings show that verbal and psychological (emotional) bullying is the most common type of bullying bullying in the classroom observed by the aca-demic staff members. While most of the participants stated that they indirectly intervened in the cases of peer bullying they witnessed, having older students and feeling pedagogically not competent enough to inter-vene in bullying were the biggest challenges impeding action. When asked about their suggestions on the subject, the participants stated that in-service trainings about peer bullying at the institutional level should be organized and that faculty administrations should play an active role in organizing these trainings and creating institutional policies about peer bullying.