The Role of Teacher-Student Relationship on Teachers’ Attitudes Toward School Bullying: A Study from Jordan

A positive teacher-student relationship has been found to affect students’ attitudes toward bullying, and in turn, their engagement in bullying behavior. However, no investigation has been conducted to explore whether the teacher-student relationship influences teachers’ attitudes with respect to bullying. The aim of this study was to examine Jordanian teachers’ attitudes concerning bullying and whether teacher-student relationship relates to bullying attitudes of teachers in terms of bullying seriousness, empathic response, and the likelihood to intervene in a bullying situation. A cross-sectional and descriptive design was employed among a convenience sample of 173 teachers (50.9% female) of 12- to 17-year-old students. The teachers were recruited from secondary public schools of three governorates in the Northern district of Jordan. Teachers were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire assessing their attitudes toward school bullying and the quality of their relationship with students in terms of relationship closeness and conflict. The results showed that physical and verbal bullying were perceived more seriously and elicited higher empathy for the victimized compared to relational bullying. The regression analyses revealed that gender and increased teacher-student closeness were significant predictors of bullying seriousness and empathy, but not the likelihood for intervention. More specifically, being a female teacher and having a closer teacher-student relationship resulted in teachers’ increased perception of bullying seriousness and a more empathic response toward the bullied, while lack of willingness to providing bullying intervention remained. Research is needed to examine teachers’ lack of action for bullying as the barriers may be culturally contextualized. Meanwhile, interventions that promote quality teacher-student relationships are necessary to increase teachers’ cognizance of bullying severity and empathy response for the bullied, specifically among male teachers. Students have been found to adopt the values of their teachers, and this may deter them from engaging in bullying behavior.