Investigation of the opinions of parents of primary school students on peer bullying and their methods of fighting against peer bullying

The concept of bullying and behaviours that include bullying are among the most common issues we encounter in our world every day. The increasing frequency of these behaviours has found a wide place in the relevant literature in recent years and is one of the top topics that many researchers have worked on. This thesis aims to determine the views of parents of primary school students on peer bullying, which is a communication barrier today, and the methods to combat peer bullying. The research was conducted in the 2023-2024 academic year with 20 parents who have children at İsmet İnönü Primary School in Bafra district of Samsun province. In this research, which was conducted with the case pattern of the qualitative research method, a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used as a data collection tool. Considering the relevant literature, the data collected from the parents with the data collection tool were grouped by content analysis. As a result of the research, it was seen that most of the parents defined peer bullying as "physical misbehaviour, verbal misbehaviour, sarcastic speech and psychological pressure". As for how peer bullying was noticed by families, it was observed that the parents answered "the change in the behavior and speech of the children". Parents pointed out the importance of communication in preventing peer bullying and stated that this issue could be solved by first of all communicating with their children, the classroom teacher, the guidance service and the school administration. It has been stated that, as expectations from schools regarding the fight against peer bullying, it would be effective to include the peer bullying as a course subject, organize seminars, and hold social activities and theatre plays.