ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between classroom teachers' perception of mobbing phenomenon and their problem solving skills. The sample of the study is composed of 208 classroom teachers working in the primary schools in the Osmangazi district of Bursa during the 2013-2014 educational year. The data required for the study was collected by using a data collection tool, the first section which included the "Personal Information Form", the second section of which was composed of the “Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ)” developed by Einarsen and Raknes (1997) and adapted by Cemaloğlu (2007) into Turkish, and the third section of which consisted of the "Problem Solving Inventory" developed by P.P.Heppner and C. H. Peterson in 1982 and adapted by Nail Şahin, Nesrin Hisli Şahin and Paul Heppner into Turkish in 1993. In the analysis of the data, for nonparametric tests, the Kruskal Wallis H test and the Mann-Whitney U test were used. In cases when the p value obtained via the Kruskal Wallis H test was found significant, in order to determine between which groups was there a difference, the paired comparison Mann-Whitney U test was used; for parametric tests, the Independent Samples T test was used, and for multiple comparisons, the One way ANOVA was used. The data was tested at the significance level of .05.

According to the findings obtained, the teachers' perceptions of mobbing phenomenon were at “Never” level; no significant differences were found according to the variables of gender, marital status, educational status; however, a significant difference was found according to the variable of age. The teachers' problem solving skills were at low level. It was determined that the teachers' problem solving skills did not differ according to the variables of gender, marital status, age and educational status. It was also determined that there was a low level of significant relationship between the teachers' perceptions of mobbing phenomenon and their problem solving skills.

Key Words: Mobbing, Problem Solving Skills, Classroom Teacher