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Chapter I
INTRODUCTION

Context and Rationale

The academe is challenged by serious issues at present. Bullying became a national
conversation after what had happened in Ateneo de Manila University. According to
Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the victims will be carrying the burden, terror, and
trauma of their experience. Smokowski and Kopasz (2005) as cited by Maximo and Loy in
the Philippine Journal of Psychology (2014) said, “Bullies tend to suffer mental health
difficulties, some associated with conduct and anti social disorders”. It shaken the self worth
and worst, one gets fatally injured if it reached to its limit.

The government made efforts to safeguard the learners against bullying cases. Republic
Act 10627 also known as Anti-bullying Act of 2013 is entitled “An Act Requiring All
Elementary and Secondary Schools to Adopt Policies to Prevent and Address the Acts of
Bullying in their Institutions” was signed by President Aquino. The law defines bullying as
“any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic
expression or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof that is directed to another
student. Such act may cause reasonable fear of physical and emotional harm or damage to
property, creating a hostile environment at school for the other student, infringe on his rights
or disrupts the educational process”. Under the law, all elementary and secondary schools are
required to adopt policies to address the existence of bullying in their respective institutions.

It is for this reason that the researcher conducts the action research. Students in Pit-os
National High School are not exempted from bullying cases. These arise from
misunderstandings and conflicts that results to teasing and bullying. This study aims to
evaluate and heighten the awareness of students in Pit-os National High School on anti-
bullying law and the possible intervention plan to strengthen schools policies.

Research Questions

This study aims to assess the level of awareness on RA 10627 also known as “ Anti-
Bullying Act of 2013” of the students in Pit-os National High School, North District 1,
Division of Cebu City, School Year 2018-2019.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the factors that make a student a target of bullying?

2. What are the effects of bullying?
3. What is the level of awareness of students towards school’s policies on bullying?
4. What intervention can be proposed based on the study?

Proposed Innovation, Intervention and Strategy

Bullying, as defined by Olweus (1994) is an attempt to inflict injury or discomfort upon

another like involving aggressive behaviour or cause intentional harm, carried out repeatedly
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and overtime and occurs in the context of an interpersonal relationship characterized by

imbalance of power. The bully may be physically bigger, more popular, more intelligent, and
richer or have a stronger personality than the person being bullied (Phillips and Cornell, 2002
as cited by Maximo and Loy, 2014). In this case, the bullies became powerful and famous
while the victims became shameful and has the intense desire for revenge.

Along with this non-academic issue threatening learners’ safety and welfare, school
administrators and teachers must craft and imposed policies to prevent or stop bullying
among learners. It should be noted that bullying impacts negatively to bullies and victims.
The school, being the second home, must let the learners feel that they are taken care of and
make clear to bullies that the behaviour is unacceptable.
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Chapter II
METHODOLOGY

Participants and/ or Other Sources of Data and Information

The target participants of the study are the 185 Junior and Senior High School students of
Pit-os National High School, North District 1, Division of Cebu City, SY 2018-2019.

Data Gathering Method

A letter addressed to the school’s division superintendent is prepared by the researcher

requesting permission to conduct the study. When the permission was approved, the
researcher personally administered the questionnaires to the respondents. In the
administration of the survey questionnaire, the researcher explained to the respondents its
content for them to answer the items appropriately and assures them that the responses will
be treated with outmost confidentiality.

The researcher used the descriptive type of research. This method of investigation was
appropriate in collecting the data in order to answer questions concerning the current status of
the subject of the study. It aims to describe the nature of the situation as it exists at the time of
the study and explore the causes of the particular phenomena.

The survey questionnaire was adopted and devised into a Likert question. It was divided
into three parts. The first part aims to determine the factors that affect bullying, the second
part looks into effects of bullying to the victim and the third part was the perceptions of
students towards school policies on bullying.

Data Analysis Plan

The data gathered was classified, organized, tallied and tabulated using a typical Likert
rating scale for the question. This was treated with the use of weighted mean.
To compute the weighted mean, the formula was used.

WM= F x W
N

Where:
WM= weighted mean
F= number of responses
W= weight per column
N= total number of respondents
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Chapter III
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter shows the presentation, analysis and interpretation of data that answers
the problem posted in the study. The presentation follows the sequence of the problem as
stated.

Table 1
Factors That Lead to Bullying In School
Indicators Always Often Sometimes Never Weighted
(4) (3) (2) (1) Mean (WM)
1. You bully or tease a student when you
see that he or she is different from
others ( e.g. overweight, wear 7 4 107 67 1.74
different clothes, came from different
race or ethnicity
2. You tease a student when you see that
he or she is weak or not able to defend 3 5 45 132 1.35
his or herself
3. You bully a student who doesn’t have
lots of friends or not popular 7 0 22 156 1.23
4. You bully a student who doesn’t
socialize with others well 4 3 50 128 1.37
5. You underestimate a student who has
low level of intellect or have disability 5 2 53 125 1.39
Note: N= 185

Factors That Lead to Bullying

The data in table I above shows the result of the survey conducted to 185 Junior and
Senior High School students of Pit-os National High School for school year 2018-2019. It
presents the identified factors that lead to bullying in school. It makes use of the Likert scale
and the weighted mean is taken into consideration to analyze the data.

Based on the table, bully or tease others when he or she is different got the highest
mean which is 1. 74, followed by underestimating a student who has a low level of intellect
or have developmental disability which is 1.39. On the other hand, bullying a student who
doesn’t socialize with others well scored 1.37 and teasing a student when he/she is weak or
not able to defend his or her self got a weighted mean of 1.35 Findings of Olweus (1994)
revealed that it was the younger and weaker student who were most exposed to bullying and
was usually carried out by older students. The last factor identified by the respondents that
lead to bullying is a bully student who doesn’t have lots of friends with a weighted mean of
1.23.

It further implies that, of the 5 identified factors, the respondents considered bullying
or teasing others when he or she is different like overweight or wear different clothing as the
topmost factor that can lead to bullying. This supported by the Swedish study of Frisen,
Jonsson, & Person ( 2007) many victims are bullied because of their appearance such as
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being under or overweight, unattractive and because of traits such as being shy and insecure.
Moreover, underestimating a student who has a low level of intellect or have developmental
disabilities became subject of bullying too. This is affirmed in the study of Rigby and
Johnsons (2016) when he reported that students with disability are victimised more often than
other students. Bullying students who doesn’t socialize with others and teasing a student
when he/she is weak or not able to defend his or herself scored almost the same yet it can still
lead to bullying. This is confirmed in the study of Maximo and Loy (2014) in their findings
that name-calling and teasing were most frequent which validate the greater occurrence of
verbal bullying and victimization. On the other hand, bullying student who doesn’t have lots
of friends or unpopular preferred less by the respondents.

Effects of Bullying

Table II below depicts the participants’ rate whether or not the participants strongly
agree, moderately agree, neither agree nor disagree, moderately disagree and strongly
disagree with each factor that the researcher wants to collect feedback on. Of the five
identified effects of bullying, depression, anxiety sadness and loneliness rated most highly
with an average weighted score of 4.27. It is followed by having a low self confidence with a
weighted score of 4.25, just a matter of 0.02 from the most scored effect of bullying. Other
effects also includes bullied has school problems, suicidal thoughts and suicidal attempts and
abnormal fears and worries with a weighted average of 4.01, 3.95 and 3.82, respectively.

Based on the findings of the study, the top 3 negative effects of bullying were
depression anxiety sadness and loneliness, low self confidence and school problems for
bullied individuals. The findings of Bogart from Boston Childrens Hospital as quoted by the
Philippine Star and www.pchrd.gov.ph states that poor mental health includes being sad,
afraid and angry. This is consistent with the findings of Smokowskie and Kopaz (2005)
that bullying has negative effects on self esteem and may result in internalizing disorders
such as anxiety.

Table 2
Effects of Bullying
Strongly Moderately Neither Moderately Strongly Weighted
Agree Agree agree Disagree Disagree Mean
Indicators (5) (4) nor (2) (1) (WM)
disagree
(3)
1. A bullied person has low self
esteem 103 42 26 11 3 4.25
2. A bullied person has suicidal
thoughts and suicide attempts 68 58 42 15 2 3.95
3. A bullied person has school
problems 86 42 40 6 11 4.01
4. A bullied person experienced 12 6 4.27
depression, anxiety, sadness 112 35 20
and loneliness
5. A bullied person has 73 49 28 26 9 3.82
abnormal fears and worries
N=185
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Students Awareness towards School Policies on Bullying

Table III below revealed the students awareness on the schools policies on bullying.
The 185 respondents rated as to strongly agree, moderately agree, neither agree nor disagree,
moderately disagree and strongly disagree on specific indicators.

Table 3
Students Awareness towards Schools Policies on Bullying
Indicators Strongly Moderately Neither Moderately Strongly Weighted
Agree Agree agree Disagree Disagree Mean
(5) (4) nor (2) (1) ( WM)
disagree
(3)
1. Having clear school policies
on bullying helps clarify
expectations on appropriate 111 32 25 10 7 4.24
behaviour and what the
consequences of bullying are.
2. Anti-bullying policies in
school should include 128 20 12 3 8 4.16
protection for students
3. The location where the
policy applies should be 126 16 24 8 11 4.29
specified ( e.g. school
campus, classroom)
4. There should be clear rules
and consequences for 137 19 14 9 6 4.47
engaging in bullying
5. Consistent individual
interventions for both bullies 136 25 16 2 6 4.53
and victims should be
provided.
Note: N= 185

As reflected in the table, consistent individual interventions for both bullies and
victims rated most highly by the respondents with a mean of 4.53. Second is the idea that
there should be clear rules and consequences for those engaging in bullying with a mean of
4.47. Third is the participants response on the specific location where the policies applies
whether in the classroom or the school campus as a whole got a mean of 4.29 while the
preference on having clear school policies on bullying to clarify expectations on appropriate
behaviour and its consequences has the mean of 4.24. Lastly, students’ response on anti
bullying policies in school that should include protection for students has the mean of 4.16

Provision of consistent individual interventions for both bullies and bullied and clear
rules and consequences of bullying was strongly agreed by most of the respondents. In
totality, there was a slight difference of the weighted mean as reflected in the table. It further
implies that students wanted to have clear school policies on bullying signifying the
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consequences of unacceptable behaviour, protection for students and specific locations

where the policies applies. In the findings of Franciso and Rastrullo (2015), safety measures
employed by the school such as roaming security personnel might have limited the number of
bullying cases. This is parallel to what secretary Luistro said as cited by Flores (2016), RA
10627 requires schools to adopt policies to deal with bullying and provide a safe environment
for students.
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Chapter IV
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations on

students’ awareness on anti bullying law and strengthening school policies to the students in
Pit-os National High School, North District 1, Division of Cebu City, and School Year-2019.

Findings

The data gathered pointed out the following findings:

1. What are the factors that make a student a target of bullying?
The respondents considered bullying or teasing others when he or she is
different like overweight or wear different clothing was rated as the topmost factor
that can lead to bullying with a mean of 1.74. Other identified factors were:
underestimating student who has low level of intellect or with developmental
disability and bullying student who doesn’t socialize well others with a mean of
1.39 and 1.37 respectively.
2. What are the effects of bullying?
Based on the survey, the highest mean which is 4.27 is attributed to
depression, anxiety, sadness and loneliness experienced by the victim. Moreover,
bullied person has low self esteem with a mean of 4.25 and a bullied person has
school problems.
3. What is the level of awareness of students towards school’s policies on bullying?
Based on the result, there was a slight difference of the computed mean. Although
provision of consistent individual interventions for both bullies and bullied and clear
rules and consequences of bullying was strongly agreed by most of the respondents, it
further means that students wanted to have clear school policies on bullying
signifying the consequences of unacceptable behaviour, protection for students and
specific locations where the policies applies.
4. What intervention can be proposed based on the study?
The possible intervention in order to heighten students’ awareness about
bullying is to have a school based awareness campaign on the effects of bullying.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. The effects of bullying are serious and can lead to devastation of one’s life.
2. Clear school policies on unacceptable behaviour can minimize and stop bullying
in the campus.

Recommendations

In light with the findings of the study, the following recommendations are hereby
given to increase the level of students’ awareness on anti bullying law.
1. School policies must be implemented properly in order to protect the welfare of
the students.
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2. Implementation of the proposed intervention plan on school bullying should be

closely monitored by the school administrators.
3. Teachers should be reoriented on the RA 10627 or anti-bullying law in order to
strengthen school policies during the in-service training for teachers
(INSET).
4. Organize personality development activities on the topics such as developing self
confidence, boosting self esteem, exercising self control and coping stress among
students and teachers.

References

Dan,O.(1994).Bullying at School:Basic Facts and Effects.J.Child

Pychol.Psychiat.Vol.35No.7,pp1171-1190,1994 Elsevier Science Ltd.
Eliot, M. And Cornell D. (2009). Bullying in Middle School as a Function of Insecure
Attachment and Aggressive Attitudes. School Psychology International,
30(2),201-214
Francisco, M., Rastrullo K.(2015).Bullying and School Connectedness Among High
School Students. Publication.retrieve from https://www.researchgate.net
Frisen, A., Jonsson, A., & Persson, C.(2007).Adolescents Perception of Bullying:Who is
the victim?Who is the Bully? Adolescence,42(168), 749-761
Haynie, D. (2001).Bullies.Victims and Bully-victims:Distinct Group of At-Risk Youth.The
Journal of Early Adolescence, 21(1), 29-49
Republic Act 10627 “Anti Bullying Law”
Rigby, K., Johnson, K.,(2016).The Prevalence and Effectiveness of Anti-bullying
Strategies Employed in Australian Schools.University of Southern
Australia.Adopted form http://www.unisa.edu.au
Sally, M., Loy, S.(2014).Bullying Among High School Students as Influenced by Parent-
Child Attachment and Parenting Styles. Philippine Journal of Psychology,
2014.47(2), 125-152.
Smokowski,P., & Kopaz(2005). Bullying in School;An Overview of Types, Effects,
Family Characteristucs and Intervention Strategies. Children and School,
27(2)101-110.
https://www.google.com/amp.rappler.com
https://evsucielloigana.wordpress.com
www.google.com/anti-bullying-act-schools/ph.theasianparent
www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph.
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Action Research Work Plan and Timeline

Activities Persons Involved Timeline Output

Send permission Schools Division September 17, Approved letter
letter to the schools Superintendent, 2018
division Researcher
superintendent
Distribution of the Researcher, October 15, 2018 Survey questionnaire
survey JHS and SHS properly answered
questionnaires students
Retrieve the survey Researcher October 19, 2018 Exact number of
questionnaires Class Advisers retrieved
questionnaire based
on the number of
respondents
Classification , Researcher November 2018 Results of the
organization, gathered data ready
tallying and for interpretation
tabulation of data
Reporting, Researcher December 2018 Interpreted results
interpretation and to based on findings
discussion of January 2019
results
Bookbinding and Researcher February 2019 Acknowledgement of
passing of the the receipt copy of
action research to the book
DepEd, Division of
Cebu City

Cost Estimates

Item Amount per unit Quantity Cost

Short bond paper P 240/ ream 1 ream P 240.00
Photocopied P 1/ copy 370 copies P 370.00
questionnaire
Printer ink P 170/bottle 1 bottle black ink P 170.00
Book binding P 100/book 2 ring bind P 200.00
TOTAL P 980.00

Plans for Dissemination and Utilization

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The results of this study will be presented and disseminated to the School
Management Team. Also, it will be included in the In-service Training for Teachers on May
2019 as one of the topics for discussion, both in the school and district levels. Based on the
results of the study, teachers will be encouraged to make use of the proposed intervention
plan in order to strengthen school policies on bullying cases.

Proposed Intervention Plan