Bullying Prevention Among School Students in Institutions of General Secondary Education as a Pedagogical Problem

The article is devoted to the actual problem of bullying prevention among school students in institutions of general secondary education. Several methods were used to solve the specified problem: analysis, synthesis, comparison and generalization of psychological, pedagogical, legal and sociological theoretical sources; studying of educational documents, regulatory and legal framework, highlighting the experience of psychological and pedagogical prevention of bullying among high school students in institutions of general secondary education. The essence of the concept of “bullying” among school students in institutions of general secondary education is analyzed as intentional, direct or indirect, mostly, systematic illegal actions by students of the educational institution directed against another student without one’s willing, manifested in the form of physical or mental influences, limit the freedom of self-expression or actions, the consequence of which is the violation of the rights to safe education, respect, honour, dignity, property, health or life and causing physical, property, moral, mental harm to the student. The normative and legal aspects of the investigated problem, causes, types, forms of bullying, who can become a victim of bulling and what consequences cyberbullying has on the school students’ mental state, are considered. The survey results among high school students of experimental educational institutions regarding the detection of bullying and what forms of cyberbullying they encounter in social networks are presented.A comparison of the results obtained with recent research revealed that the presented study confirms and expands the results of scientific investigations indicated in the article.The conclusions highlight that the mentioned problem has not been appropriately managed in institutions of general secondary education. It is important to shift the emphasis on issues of the confidentiality principle in the process of identifying bullying among school students; observance of stages and complexity in the work (studying situation, training of teachers, school students and parents for developing the assistance program, its implementation and evaluation); individual approach in each case of bullying; introduce mechanisms for reporting cases of bullying in the educational institution that would provide students with support and confidentiality; involving all participants in the educational process – teaching staff, parents, students, police officers of juvenile prevention departments to prevent and overcome bullying.The practical significance of the article is that its materials can be used in the organization of educational work in institutions of general secondary education, out-of-school education, scholars, post-graduate students, and students.