STICKS STONES AND SCHOOL BULLIES DEBBIE FRIVALDO THESIS

TITLE: STICKS, STONES, AND SCHOOL BULLIES: A Study on the Effectiveness of DepEd’s Anti-Bullying Campaign through an Evaluation of the Campaign’s Materials and their Impact on Quezon City High School Students’ Perception and Attitude toward Bullying

ABSTRACT:

Bullying can be one of the biggest torments in a student’s everyday existence in school and it is known to produce harmful and even long-term negative effects to its victims. In the Philippine setting, various studies suggest an alarming continuance and increase of violent incidents of bullying especially in schools yet the Philippine government has only recently enforced much stringent policies in the hopes of finally eliminating its occurrence. This study focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the Philippines’ 1st nationwide anti-bullying campaign and its impact on high school students’ attitude and behavior toward bullying. Using a quantitative approach, 140 high school student respondents chosen through convenience and snowball sampling were surveyed through group-administered written questionnaires. Findings revealed that the participants are highly familiar with DepEd’s anti-bullying campaign but see or hear about it infrequently. Results show that participants recall seeing/hearing the campaign a few times through television, the Internet or online social media, and through classmates and teachers in school. On the other hand, the evaluation of the 3 chosen components used in the campaign, namely, the Not In Our School Anti-bullying poster, the Katulad ng Iba song and music video, and Chris Tiu as the main campaign endorser, revealed impressive results. All these campaign materials seem to have been well-received by the study participants in line with their personal attitude toward it and subjective norm. In addition, in the attempt to find a significant change in attitude and behaviour of the students toward bullying through a comparative analysis of their level of knowledge about the campaign, it is found that the data gathered for this study is not sufficient to measure a change in attitude and behaviour toward bullying as a result of the campaign. Furthermore, data suggested an improved utilization of available online and offline media as well as better dissemination of the campaign materials to produce the desired perception and attitude toward bullying among its target audience.