Eureka! Institutional Repository

Purpose: The current research attempts to investigate the phenomenon of school bullying to children with learning disabilities and the perception of this phenomenon by primary and secondary educators. Material-methods: Evidence for this research was gathered from questionnaires given to primary and secondary educators whose decisive answers led to important findings. The questionnaire consists of two questionnaires formed by Mrs Karadima (2013) and Mr Tsirikoudis (2005) and includes four sections that examine the phenomenon of school bullying at large, as well as to children with learning disabilities. Results: The given fact of this research outlines the profile of the bully who shows high rates of anger and worries, and the victim, who shows low self-esteem, special educational needs and more specifically, learning disabilities. These findings confirm that children with learning disabilities are to a certain extent vulnerable to school bullying, mainly due to social isolation and passive behavior. In addition, it was concluded that bullying has a serious impact on the psychology of such children as well as their school and social life. It is obvious that this phenomenon worries educators who feel responsible for the prevention and the confrontation of school bullying. Conclusions: The basic conclusion of this research is that educators acknowledge the fact that students with learning disabilities constitute a social group vulnerable to becoming victims. Therefore, educators feel the responsibility to protect these students and all the students at large. The majority of them believe that the consequences of being a victim are long-lasting and harmful not only to the school performance but also to the mental health of these students.