The Role of the Teacher in Preventing Bullying Caused by Social Inequality

The significant social stratification of society in modern Russia affects all spheres of society, including education. The secondary school setting is taking various measures to address this problem, but not always successfully. In this situation, the phenomenon of bullying has become widespread. The purpose of this study is to identify the teacher's ability to prevent school bullying caused by social inequality. The main research methods were the questionnaire conducted among schoolchildren of Smolensk (n=89) by using a modified version of the questionnaire by D. Olweus, and an interview with school teachers (n=28) which revealed that most of them did not react to bullying among students and the measures taken were a formal character. The article shows the connection between school bullying and social inequality, as well as the role of the teacher in its prevention. The study found that students from low-income families are much more likely to suffer from school bullying than their classmates from wealthier families. Analysis of the results shows that teachers' awareness of school bullying is low and that many teachers are not prepared to respond competently and promptly, understand the reasons and prevent it. Authors have developed recommendations for teachers on how to prevent school bullying caused by social inequality that include various forms of activities. The goal of such activities should be to create a school environment that is incompatible with aggressive behavior, in which children will learn to understand the feelings and desires of other people, to empathize with them.