Sociometric Test And School Bullying – Being Parents

The sociometric test is a good tool to visualize the social relationships that students establish within the class and, therefore, to be able to prevent and detect possible cases of bullying at school. For this reason, teachers must learn to use this type of instrument. Indeed, it can be useful to deal with the serious problem of harassment.

The sociometric test: a tool against school bullying

In the classroom, social and emotional bonds are created between the students. Thus, certain roles are established between them. In this context, some students may find themselves isolated or rejected by their classmates. We may then have to deal with cases of school bullying.

There are also students who are accepted into the class to do academic work. However, during play activities they can find themselves isolated. It is therefore difficult for the teacher to assess the level of popularity of these students by simple observation in class. Therefore, it is recommended to use other types of instruments. For example, sociometric tests.

In this way, this tool is useful for:

• To know the emotional relationships of the pupils in the class but also in the game situations.
• To know the relations of the pupils in class within the framework of the school work.

• Identify the social position of each student in the class, paying particular attention to the detection of isolated children.
• Establish a sociogram that facilitates the global vision of the social structure in the classroom.

Sociometric positions in the classroom

From the sociogram obtained, we can define the following sociometric positions in the class:

• The leader : a person who has a great deal of acceptance and very little or no refusal at all. It reflects a popular individual.
• The gray eminence : it is one of the leaders. His influence in the group is very great, although it is not noticeable from the outside.
• The partially excluded : it experiences more rejections than acceptances. His presence is generally noticed in the group.
• The total excluded : it only receives rejections. His presence can be heavy for the group and for the teacher. It has a large number of negative characteristics for the group.

• The controversial : it knows both acceptances and rejections. It usually divides the group. He is an anti-leader. It has both positive and negative characteristics.
• The couple : the reciprocal choice of two people.
• The triangle : people who choose themselves. It is generally a very close-knit and compact structure.
• The channel : A chooses B, B chooses C, C chooses D… The closer the subject is to the leader, the better his sociometric status will be.

How to pass the sociometric test in class to fight against bullying?

To pass a sociometric test in the classroom, it is necessary to devote a one-hour course session dedicated to this subject or a tutoring session. The steps to follow are then as follows:

• First, give each student the sociometric test and explain what it is. It is also important to stress that the answers are individual and should not be shown to the rest of the class.

• Then, the students answer the questions asked. They thus express their preferences and their rejections in relation to the criteria of play and / or work.

• Once the answers have been obtained, it is then necessary to establish a table in which the pupils’ answers are coded.
• Make two sociograms of the class. Firstly, a sociogram concerning the criterion of the emotional bond within the framework of the game and, secondly another within the framework of school work. It will be necessary to take into account the first three choices of each student and his rejection. To do this, the girls will be represented by a circle and the boys by a square. For each of them, the position he or she occupies in the class must be associated with it. Blue arrows can thus be used to indicate accepted individuals and red arrows to indicate rejected individuals. It is possible to indicate reciprocal acceptances by double arrows.

• Finally, interpret and analyze the positions of each student.

Other harassment detection tools

In addition to the sociometric test, there are many other equally useful tools for detecting possible cases of bullying in the classroom.

Consequently, teachers have the responsibility to choose the best tool (sociometric or otherwise) in order to achieve the detection of cases of bullying between peers.