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FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
I AM UNAM AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

CANDIDATE: SAM Aune Ndeumona
Who are you?

CURRICULUM VITAE

Aune Ndeumona Sam was born in Omusati Region - Onhamafipa village.
Her qualifications include: Bachelor of Education; Post Graduate Diploma
in Special Education; and Masters of Education (Majoring in Guidance and
Counselling). All qualifications were obtained from the University of Namibia.
Her professional career includes working as a secondary school teacher, Regional School Counsellor for
Khomas Education Directorate, International Students Officer and International Students Coordinator at
Only Namibian the University of Namibia.

institution training CANDIDATE’S DISSERTATION

ANTI-BULLYING INTERVENTION PROGRAMME AND GUIDELINES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NAMIBIA
medical doctors The doctoral study was undertaken and completed under the supervision of Prof. Louise Mostert of the

University of Namibia as Main-Supervisor and Prof. Roderick Zimba from the University of Namibia as Co-Su-
pervisor.

A research conducted by Aune (2011) revealed that the prevalence of bullying in both rural and urban
schools was high, but that there was no intervention programme to assist victims and perpetrators, as
well as witnesses of bullying. This study therefore focused on developing and evaluating an anti-bullying
programme suitable for Namibian schools. This study zoomed in on the current status of bullying activities
with the purpose of creating awareness about bullying, developing resilient skills among bullied learners,
as well as finding prevention and management strategies to combat bullying at secondary school level in
Namibia.

Employing a mixed methods quasi-experimental design, the researcher conducted the study in four urban
secondary schools in Namibia. A desk study as well as the input from 26 key informants were employed to
develop the programme, after which Life Skills teachers were trained to implement the intervention pro-
gramme during their Life Skills lessons. Eighty-one Grade 9 learners participated in the programme and the
evaluation of the programme was done using pre- and post-tests. The findings of the study revealed that
a large number of learners were experiencing bullying every day in Namibian secondary schools. The rea-
sons for bullying were different from school to school, but the most common ones were identified as poor
school rules regarding bullying and a lack of anti-bullying programmes. The impact of bullying was felt by
the majority of learners. Learners highlighted that bullying did affect teaching and learning, and bullied
learners were more likely to drop out of school and to have suicidal thoughts.

After the intervention of the anti-bullying programme, there was a clear decrease in physical bullying, but
other types of bullying remained the same and in some cases even increased based on victims’ percep-
tions. The findings indicated that more learners became aware of the different types of bullying and were
more able to identify bullying after the intervention programme. Some learners indicated that they were
more able to deal with bullying after the intervention as they had learnt new skills and knowledge regard-
ing the ways in which to handle bullying. Cyber bullying remained a major concern. Despite the new skills
learnt, the well-being of learners at schools is still at stake as bullying continues unabated, and it continues
causing short and long term social and emotional, as well as academic damage to learners.

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