Preventive Approaches to Cyberbullying in the Context of Bystander Student and Teacher Perspectives

The present study aimed to examine student and teacher bystander views regarding the prevention of cyberbullying. The study used a phenomenological design and included 18 high school students studying in the city centre of Erzurum and 10 teachers working in different subject areas. The researchers collected the data through a semi-structured interview form based on a cyberbullying scenario and analysed the data using content analysis. The findings revealed that approaches to preventing cyberbullying have a multidimensional structure. Student and teacher bystanders shared common views on education and awareness, family support, legal and social intervention, age restrictions for social media, and conscious use of technology. In addition to these common views, student bystanders evaluated the prevention of cyberbullying mainly through peer relationships, interpersonal boundaries, empathy, positive friendships, and the technical features offered by social media platforms. In contrast, teacher bystanders focused on guidance, being a good role model, cooperating with families, and improving students’ social communication skills. The findings show that the approaches developed by students and teachers from their bystander positions indicate the need to address individual, familial, social, and institutional dimensions together in the prevention of cyberbullying.