This thesis is an empirical study into the experiences of young male dancers, aged 11-18 years, in the north west of England who, outside of their secondary schools, attend private-sector dance schools for tuition in one or more dance genres such as ballet, ballroom/latin-american, contemporary, jazz, tap and urban dance. Its prime focus is to explore the ways in which these young dancers contest the two dominant Western discourses that position dance as a ‘feminine’ activity (e.g., Sanderson, 2001; Stinson, 2001; Risner, 2002a; Gard, 2003) and males who dance as subject to a homosexual presumption (e.g., Rodgers, 1966; Grant, 1985; Hamilton, 1999; Risner, 2007).

Data were generated from semi-structured interviews with 26 male dancers, 4 parents, 6 teachers and 4 dance policymakers / administrators. Explored through the theoretical lens of ‘inclusive masculinity theory’, characterised by a softening of masculinity and an erosion of homophobia (Anderson, 2009), data were analysed thematically (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Findings suggest that most male dancers continue to experience bullying, marginalisation, and stigmatisation, especially from their male peers in secondary schools, where orthodox forms of masculinity proliferate still.

While my analysis finds ‘inclusive masculinity theory’ inadequate to explain the lived experiences of most of these young male dancers, I nonetheless find much value in the related concepts of ‘masculine recuperation’ (Hansen, 1996) and ‘heterosexual recuperation’ (McCormack, 2012), these being identity-management techniques adopted by some males who transgress heteromasculine boundaries. Drawing on these 2 concepts, I pinpoint 6 strategies employed by boys to shore up their masculine and/or heterosexual identities: professing attraction to females; acquiring a ‘sporty’ boy identity; reconceptualising dance as a sport; opting for ‘cool’ dance genres; acquiring popularity through dance and, finally, the policing of movement and choreographic practices. I find that by employing some, most or all of these recuperative techniques, boys are able to contest the aforementioned dominant discourses – that dance is for females (via masculine recuperation) and that boys who dance are presumed gay (via heterosexual recuperation).

Attention is also given to boys’ experiences of dance in their secondary schools. I conclude that while ostensibly a prescribed component of the P.E. curriculum (at Key Stage 3), dance continues to be marginalised and coded as a ‘feminine’ subject and one delivered mostly by non-specialist, female teachers – a problematic, discursive, and material (re)production of gender normativity. Attempts to woo boys into dance via heteronormative schemes of work in schools or through external initiatives such as ‘Project B’ from the Royal Academy of Dance, are also deemed problematic in their gender essentialism. Furthermore, the philosophy of dance education in schools, one that privileges ‘process’ over ‘product’, does little to foster boys’ engagement with dance. Taken collectively, these findings are a cause for concern as well as a call to action.

By furthering our understanding of how young male dancers contest the dominant discourses that pertain to dance and masculinity, this thesis contributes to knowledge in the fields of both dance and education, the former still hitherto under-researched in the UK, especially regarding boys’ experiences of dance education and training in the private sector. In drawing upon the concepts of ‘masculine recuperation’ (Hansen, 1996) and ‘heterosexual recuperation’ (McCormack, 2012), I illuminate how young male dancers re-inscribe their masculinity, and heterosexuality if appropriate, by their deployment of various recuperative strategies – findings that are apt, novel, and original to the sociology of dance in England.

The experiences and attitudes of inclusion for pupils with autism attending mainstream primary schools and relevant stakeholders in Leinster were ascertained through the use of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, visual methodology and documentary analysis. Eight primary schools participated in this research and each school had access to a special class for pupils with autism. This study looked at the impact of inclusive policies on the provision of supports and services for pupils with autism and their overall learning and social experiences in each school. The findings of this research highlight many positive elements of good practice in each school. It was apparent throughout this research that professionals in schools were committed to enhancing the learning and social experiences for pupils with autism. The importance of positive home-school relationships was identified, as positive relationships greatly influenced the outcomes for young children with autism. The majority of teachers, principals and SNAs would like to see more opportunities regarding continuous professional development to accommodate the diverse needs of pupils presenting in schools on the autism spectrum. Evidence in this study highlighted inconsistencies in practice and mixed experiences for all stakeholders across each school environment. Findings from this study suggest that schools are working within a policy vacuum that is negatively impacting on the learning and social experiences for pupils with autism. In this research, the majority of parents had difficulty accessing adequate clinical and educational supports. Many parents do not have access to a special class in their locality, which can cause isolation and loneliness for their children locally. Most schools had exclusionary clauses in enrolment policies that made school choice difficult for parents. There was overwhelming consensus from parents and professionals that mixed ability special classes are not viable and the current structure, purpose and role of the special class needs to be revised in that regard. Mixed experiences were reported from parents regarding their children transferring between schools. The transfer from primary to post-primary was a great source of anxiety for the majority of parents of children with autism. This research suggests that inclusive policies must be implemented to provide adequate resource provision and requisite funding to enhance the learning and social experiences for all pupils with autism attending mainstream primary schools.

Introduction: Cyberbullying experiences have been linked to mental health difficulties, highlighting the need to refine anti-cyberbullying interventions, particularly for at-risk groups, and understand what encourages bystanders to intervene. The current study compared adolescents’ prosocial cyber-bystander intentions in an intragroup (‘UK-born’ victim status) and intergroup (‘immigrant’ victim status) cyberbullying context. State empathy and state self-efficacy were examined as potential mediators, accounting for baseline trait levels of these two factors and gender.

Methods: British adolescents (N=129; 13.5-15 years old; 59.7% female; predominately White) from two comprehensive schools in the UK took part in a two (gender: female/male) by two (victim status: British/immigrant) between-subjects quasi-experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to read a gender-matched hypothetical cyberbullying vignette with an adolescent cyber-victim who was either ‘U.K.-born’ or an ‘immigrant’. Self-report questionnaires captured participants’ prosocial bystander intentions, state and trait self-efficacy and empathy, alongside demographic information.

Results: Findings showed that victim status did not relate to self-efficacy or prosocial cyber-bystander intentions. Higher empathy was reported by females and, unexpectedly, within the ‘immigrant victim’ condition. An indirect relationship was found between victim status and prosocial cyber-bystander intentions, with state empathy as a statistical mediator. Trait empathy did not moderate the path between victim status and state empathy.

Conclusions: The present study supports promoting bystander state empathy in anti-cyberbullying programmes, but the importance of intergroup processes is unclear. To reduce cyberbullying impact, future research should explore cyber-bystander behaviour towards at-risk groups inter-sectionally, controlling for additional intergroup variables which potentially caused a suppressor effect in the results.

This thesis examines the ‘hidden’ and under-researched area of bullying and harassment of Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) women in Police Services in England. In so doing the thesis explores the intersectionality between race and gender within the context of police culture. The thesis explores the development of the legislative and policy framework of bullying harassment within the context of English Policing. In doing so, it adopts a chronological approach, which facilitates an understanding, whilst identifying main influences and events, which have shaped English Policing bullying and harassment policy since the Macpherson Inquiry (1999).

The research argues that the failure of successive governments to develop a robust legislative framework on bullying – on the grounds that it would create an unnecessary regulatory burden to industry (Adams, 1994) – has had a massive impact on workplace bullying and harassment issues. This has led to the default position of the development of the creation of ‘dignity at work’ policies through which cases of bullying are channelled. The thesis argues that this policy framework when implemented within a command-and-control organisation such as the police makes it ‘fair game’ for undermining (EHRC, 2016).

The research identifies the impact of this historic policy failure to acknowledge the importance of intersectionality in matters of diversity and the continuing ‘struggle’ between race and gender within English policing. This factor then contributes to the ‘invisibility’ of BAME women in policing. In doing so it makes BAME women susceptible to ‘unique tactics’ of bullying and harassment, which contribute to their impeded progression as compared to their white counterparts. These ‘unique tactics’ are underpinned/enhanced by the police ‘organisation’ and enforced by police ‘culture’.

The thesis argues that the failure to ‘grasp’ the issue of bullying and harassment of BAME women within British Policing is due, in part, to a lack of effective leadership; which is driven by a ‘crisis management’ culture around issues of race and gender (CRE, 2004; Ghaffur, 2004; Rollock, 2010). Furthermore, the research argues, that this situation is compounded by a paucity of evidence-based research in this area, which contributes to intensifying the perceived and actual ‘invisibility’ of BAME women within contemporary English policing.

The thesis concludes, that; the bullying and harassment of BAME women in Police Services in England, is underpinned by issues of patriarchy and racism; which are difficult to challenge in bureaucratic and hierarchical organisations like the Police. It is argued in the research that Police Services in England have developed on ‘face value’ effective policies and procedures to deal with bullying and harassment however, it is the implementation of the bullying and harassment policies and procedures and the way in which certain sections of the organisation handle them (Department of Professional Standards (DPS) and Human Resources (HR)) where the tension lies. This is due to the viewpoint established by this research that those police departments responsible for handling cases of bullying and harassment of BAME women do not have many BAME people working within them (HASC, 2016). It is argued here that this makes implementation of bullying and harassment policies difficult, as these individuals do not truly understand the nature of racism which is essential to be able to tackle the bullying and harassment of BAME women. Furthermore, the forceful police culture, does its utmost to maintain and protect the organisation from those BAME women who would expose it both internally and externally for bullying and harassment. This triggers a range of acts; aimed at undermining, discrediting, and isolating the victim through drawn out investigative processes. These acts are aimed at maintaining power and order and are enabled through the operation of police culture, which by its very nature facilitates ‘corruption’ of processes in the handling of bullying and harassment cases.

Bullying in schools is a widespread problem, attracting a great deal of interest and publicity in recent years. The negative impacts of bullying can have consequences for not just the victims, but also for the school, perpetrators and wider community members. Such consequences can be experienced instantaneously and/or at a subsequent time, often in later life. In recent years bullying has unquestionably moved into the spotlight as researchers and governments have investigated the phenomenon in greater depth. However, according to the NSPCC, it remains the top problem for children aged 11 and under contacting them and was the single biggest reason for boys calling CHILDLINE in 2015/16 (NSPCC, 2016). Bullying in primary school is, thus, of critical concern to educational policy makers and school leaders alike. Research would suggest that some schools experience more bullying incidents than others and that schools vary widely in both their approaches to and successes in dealing with the issue. Initiatives and approaches to bullying enter schools that serve particular communities, with particular experiences, individuals and histories, making them site specific. They are mediated by the practices of school leaders and are executed by staff with diverse levels of confidence, commitment and capacity. There is, thus, always variation in the ways in which practices are taken up. Even where schools profess to enact the same
approaches they often meet with widely ranging outcomes for anti-bullying, as was evidenced through this investigation. This research, therefore, set out to understand what it is that more successful schools do in initiating and managing anti-bullying practices. It investigates the less frequently examined area of the effects of head teacher practices on the success of anti-bullying cultures. Set in the contexts of five diverse primary school settings, this thesis scrutinizes the approaches of head teachers as they facilitate and cultivate practices that enable or constrain anti-bullying cultures. It utilizes a mixed methods approach, where questionnaires, observations and semi-structured interviews and focus groups enable the voices and experiences of school community members to be heard. To facilitate this the methodological approach began as one that combined the lenses of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model (1979) and Lave and Wenger’s Communities of Practice (1991). However, it evolved to look beyond the latter and to incorporate the work of Kemmis and Grootenboer’s Practice
Architectures which champions a dual purpose of education: to help people live well in a world worth living in (Kemmis and Gootenboer, 2008), suggesting a social justice approach to this research. This is an aspect that, until recently, was generally omitted in the discourses surrounding the nature, efficiency and sustainability of developing anti-bullying cultures’ in primary schools. I show that, in successful anti-bullying schools, although policy and targeted intervention are vital for providing focus and understanding, there is a culture of
respect, care and collaboration that pervades the sayings, doings and relatings at every level. I argue that head teachers, in shaping the cultures of their schools, are fundamental to these aspects as they maneuver the inter-subjective spaces of practice architectures (Kemmis and Gootenboer, 2008). This research reinforces the need for head teachers to build upon existing practices, taking account of the histories and social and political actualities of their schools. It suggests that, taking account of these, the perceptions of players within the field
may be as important as the actuality of situated practices as they unfold.

The ensuing thesis is the result of an in-depth interrogation of the following research question: What are the school experiences of LGBT youth? Despite much research on homophobic bullying in school, little is known about how power intersects and prolongs a bullying event after the initial victimization is over. This study sheds a light on this issue, examining how LGBT youth understand bullying, their capacity within individual events, while uncovering how power shapes a bullying incident. The first part of the thesis forms the central argument demonstrating key principles underpinning challenges sexual minority youth face while at school. Interrogating political and neoliberal influences, this thesis introduces young people’s stories through multiple lenses. This thesis uncovers schools ineffectual use of inclusion policy revealing policy and practice are failing young people. Furthermore, LGBT young people’s human rights are also largely overlooked in policy practice. Not treated as having the same rights as other students interferes with their education, and therefore, their human rights. The first two chapters are grounded in present literature as demonstrated in chapter three, which is followed by methodologies in chapter four, rounding out the first section. Chapters five through seven establish the second part of this thesis. Here the reader is introduced to young people’s accounts unpacking bullying incidents. Introducing critical incidents revealed through narrative inquiry, leads to an interrogation of bullying and how power punctuates, intersecting a single event. Chapter eight concludes this thesis. Up to thirty young people participated in sessions, ranging in ages from sixteen to nineteen. Eighteen filled out a questionnaire, while surveys ranged from eight to seventeen participants. Eighteen participated with the one-to-one interview lasting from 30 to 60 minutes. Interviews revealed all young people had experienced bullying at school while several were severely physically bullied and harmed. Girls reported experiencing and identifying bullying differently than boys, while boys reported struggling with homophobic bullying representing their lost male privilege suggesting girls and boys experienced, perceived and defined bullying and power differently. Results revealed not everything defined as bullying, is understood as such. Additionally,
power exerted onto the victim during a bullying incident came from multiple sources. First, it came from the initial attacker then moved to the teacher attempting to resolve the incident, and then to the administration. How they interrogated bullying informed and prolonged a bullying incident long after the initial event ceased. This thesis will reveal how bullying is understood and addressed in schools is ineffective due to its universal ideology considering all experience as the same, and is faulty.

Children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have been found to be at greater risk of experiencing peer victimisation and bullying behaviours than children without SEND (Mishna, 2003). This thesis investigated how individual level factors (e.g. SEND, emotional symptoms, reciprocal friendships, attitudes) and school level factors (e.g. inclusion) are related to peer victimisation and bullying, as well as the additional bullying roles, such as followers and defenders. 1,599 pupils (aged 11-14) from nine schools completed self-report measures to assess the variables of interest. Data on teacher (n = 194) and parent (n = 193) attitudes towards inclusion were collected along with parents’ experiences of inclusion at the schools as proxy measures of school inclusion. Each school’s inclusion/SEND policy and the Ofsted report also provided information on ‘inclusion’ at the school. Multilevel models were run for victimisation and bullying to investigate which variables predicted these experiences. Disability and emotional symptoms positively predicted victimisation while friendships negatively predicted victimisation with an interaction between emotional symptoms and disability also being significant. Attitudes towards SEND significantly positively predicted bullying behaviour. In both models, Ofsted scores were included at the school level and showed that as general Ofsted scores improved, levels of bullying and victimisation decreased. Although the developed measures of school inclusion (Ofsted reports and school policy analyses) did not appear to predict bullying of children with SEND, this study adds to a growing body of research which suggests that school level factors are important, with schools rated highly by Ofsted appearing to have lower levels of bullying.

Paranoia is the unfounded beliefs that others intend to cause physical and/or psychological harm. Emerging evidence reflects an association between bullying and paranoia in adolescence, but lacks control of theoretically relevant covariates (beliefs about paranoia, shame, social anxiety and emotional dysregulation). The aims of the present study
were to a) examine the association between bullying and paranoia b) compare severity of paranoia between clinical and non-clinical samples and c) establish the robustness of any association by controlling for the covariates. Data from questionnaires were obtained from clinical (N = 24) and non-clinical (N = 212) samples of 16 to 18 year old adolescents. Results indicated a strong association between bullying and paranoia. The severity of paranoia did not differ between clinical and non-clinical samples. Bullying appeared to contribute
independently with paranoia after controlling for the covariates in the non-clinical sample. Using the clinical sample, an indirect association was found between bullying and paranoia via emotional dysregulation and external shame. Findings are consistent with literature highlighting that bullying is associated with paranoia. Paranoia may serve an adaptive function to detect social threats, and therefore become heightened from bullying. Furthermore, this association appears to be influenced by emotional dysregulation and external shame. Future
research should further examine the association between bullying and paranoia, as well as other specific psychotic experiences such as hallucinations, in longitudinal large sample studies controlling for effects of theoretically relevance processes, including external shame and emotional regulation. Clarifying the roles of external shame and emotional dysregulation have important clinical implications in the context of bullying and paranoia experiences.

Embitterment has been described as the emotion generated in the aftermath of an event experienced as unjust and unfair. Although embitterment is most commonly presented in the work context, research on workplace embitterment has remained scarce due to the fact that the concept of embitterment is rather new. This thesis aimed to shed some light on the prevalence of this emotion, its developmental context, outcomes and ways of treating it. Results from this thesis suggests that breaches in organisational justice, can trigger feelings of workplace embitterment which can impact negatively employees’ ability to psychologically unwind from work, as well as their work engagement and job satisfaction levels. The unfolding of further features of workplace embitterment and the development of interventions to improve this feeling seems a worthwhile future endeavour.

While cyberbullying in education is a widely studied topic, research into workplace cyberbullying is less well represented in the literature.  There are a number of approaches taken in the literature to defining the topic which results in a lack of an agreed definition on which to base future research.  Using a qualitative approach involving in-depth face to face interviews with fifteen participants this study aimed to produce a definition of workplace cyberbullying grounded in the literature and supported by real world experience.  Additionally, a comparison of the perceptions and the prevalence of workplace cyberbullying between the public and private sectors was undertaken.  The definition of workplace cyberbullying produced was: Any act, intended to cause harm or perceived as harmful in the workplace that is delivered through digital means.  The results of this study indicate that there is little difference between the two sectors regarding the perceptions of what constitutes cyberbullying in the workplace, with email misuse being the single most reported avenue for workplace cyberbullying.  The implications of the study are that email misuse is a common cause of workplace cyberbullying in the workplace and given the high number of participants in the current study reporting experiencing workplace cyberbullying further research is recommended to quantify the extent of the issue.

Over the last decade, the nature of bullying has changed dramatically, moving from traditional, face to face to via communication technologies. The associated bullying behaviours and technologies is collectively known as ‘cyberbullying’. Cyberbullying is an increasing problem which results in negative outcomes for all involved. For victims, it is ubiquitous; there is no escape. Cyberbullying, has been directly and indirectly linked to an increased risk of suicide for both victims and bullies. It is therefore vital to explore what children, parents and teachers interpret as cyberbullying and how to design effective interventions to reduce cyberbullying and/or develop resilience and coping strategies. To date, research on cyberbullying has focussed on children in their teens. However, little is known about the perceptions of younger children particularly at the key transitions point from primary to secondary school. At this age, self-esteem decreases and peer support and influence become very important in determining behaviour. Technology use increases around this age and parental monitoring decreases. This thesis uses multiple methods to fully explore similarities and differences in perceptions and experiences between children before (aged 10-11 years) and after (aged 12-15 years) this transition and develops a behaviour change intervention to promote more positive behaviour online, increase resilience and self-efficacy. This thesis aims to develop ways for children to overcome adversity by developing their problem-solving skills and increasing their confidence levels to deal with a negative situation through building their cyberbullying resilience. Cyberbullying resilience can be strengthened through external factors such as a supportive environment, strong peer support and a sense of belonging and internal factors including high self-esteem, self-control and self-efficacy (Bozak (2013) as cited in Hinduja and Patchin (2017)). Initial findings suggested that cyberbullying is predominantly a female behaviour and that victims and bystanders are reluctant to seek adult intervention unless the situation is considered to be so extreme that they can no longer cope. Primary girls were found to be more likely to report a cyberbullying incident than secondary, even though there was no difference in their perception of the severity of the incident. This thesis adds to the literature by highlighting children, parents and teachers’ understandings and expectations around reporting and what these are. This thesis identifies age differences in relation to cyberbullying perceptions and reporting channels and presents a behaviour change intervention which increased self-efficacy and resilience levels. It is also applies a unique intervention approach by introducing implementation intentions with the intention to increase kind online behaviour in addition to building self-efficacy, self-esteem and cyberbullying resilience so that children have skills and strategies in place to deal with adversity online should the time come.