There is growing concern over the problem of bullying behaviour in schools. In response to this concern, this study set out to examine the incidence and characteristics of students who were considered to be bullies or victims, according to teacher and peer ratings and class questionnaires. The rationale behind choosing the seven schools was to include an example of each of the main types of school in the Irish educational system. The study looks at a small number of schools in depth, rather than a large number of schools superficially. Socio-economic and social and family background features are examined as factors in the causation of bully/victim problems. Students identified as bullies or victims are compared under the following headings: 1) Physical Characteristics 2) Psychological Traits 3) Personality Characteristics 4) Behaviour Characteristics Particular students who emerged as bullies or victims are profiled. Information regarding the nature, causation, maintenance, prevention, alleviation, eradication of bully/victim problems was gathered by means of pupil interviews and questionnaires completed by Principals and teachers. The study is organised into five chapters. The first two chapters provide a theoretical framework for the study. Chapter I deals with the purpose and background to the research. Chapter II reviews the literature on aggression and bullying behaviour. Chapter III focuses on the research procedure. Chapter IV is a presentation and discussion of the results of the research. Chapter V presents a summary, conclusions and implications of the study. The major conclusion of the study is that school as an institution does not cause people to become bullies or victims. While it may be the case, that the atmosphere in some schools is conducive to bullying behaviour, it is likely that social and family background features combined with certain physical, psychological, personality and behavioural characteristics are of paramount importance in the causation and maintenance of bullying behaviour.

The thesis is the account of a research project which set out to document the sexual harassment of schoolgirls by male teachers in the classroom. Sexual harassment, it is argued, is a `female-controlling-practice’. Initially, the discussion is set within the wider context of social experience and examples are given to demonstrate how some women from both past and different cultures have been controlled. The argument is then developed to include an assessment of the role of rape and sexual harassment in Western social life. The analysis of all these social controls reveals some of the mechanisms which act to perpetuate these practices. This revelation signals the problems associated with collecting data of this kind. The design of an appropriate methodology had to consider both the politically sensitive nature of sexual harassment as well as the societal-controlling-mechanisms which silence and suppress them. The methodology used was a synthesis of related research models all within the ethnographic tradition. The research group comprised thirteen London schoolgirls who attended a state 11-18 comprehensive. During the nine month fieldwork the complexities of the data gathered required a number of changes and modifications to the methodology. The main reason was that as the research progressed the type, scale and frequency of the incidents disclosed were greater than had been anticipated. The conclusion to the work combines the findings from both theoretical and empirical analysis. It reveals several important and significant similarities between the ways in which women and these girls have been treated in the past and up to the present. Further the analysis reveals how accounts of women and the girls’ experiences are suppressed and silenced by various agencies and societal attitudes and pressure to conform.