The Association between Perception of Bullying and Academic Achievement among Secondary School Students in Gimbo Woreda, Kaffa Zone

Abstract

The major objective of this study was to look at the relationship between academic achievement and bullying perceptions among secondary school students in Gimbo woreda, Kaffa zone. The researcher used mixed research design in this study. The total populations of the study were 5562 secondary school students from grade 9 through 12 found in six secondary schools in Gimbo woreda. Among them 373 samples; 188 girls and 185 boys were recruited. The sample size was determined by using slovin’s formula and the samples were selected using stratified random sampling based on their grade level and sampling was done on the basis of proportion. On the other hand, teachers were selected for gathering qualitative data using purposive sampling. Questionnaire was utilized to collect quantitative data from 373 sample students of grades nine through twelve. In addition, qualitative data from participated teachers were collected to triangulate and support quantitative findings. The data were summarized using descriptive statistics like, frequency and percentage and linear regression model was used to look at the association between independent and dependent variables using SPSS version 24. The findings of this study has shown that physical bullying (53.1%) was the common kind of bullying compared to other types among the students that took part in the study, followed by verbal bullying (28.7%). On the other hand, 79.5 % of participants perceived bullying as negative behavior. The result indicated in the linear regression coefficient table has shown that; students’ bullying perception and their academic achievement have a strong negative association; which was (β=-.868). Based on the finding, the researcher has recommended that teachers and school administrators are expected to establish and implement a variety of initiatives in order to reduce frequently occurring bullying types in their school. In the end, the researcher has concluded that Physical (53.1%) and verbal bullying (28.7%) were the commonly occurring types of bullying in the schools respectively.