Abstract:

Bullying and cyberbullying prevention in primary education increasingly requires teachers to move beyond procedural responses and develop socio-emotional competences that support early detection, conflict management, empathetic communication, and positive classroom relationships. In Mediterranean educational contexts, these demands are shaped by strong relational dynamics among schools, families, and peer groups, making teachers’ preparation in socio-emotional skills especially relevant.

This study presents descriptive findings from the Spanish strand of the PreMedBullying project, focusing on teachers’ self-perceived socio-emotional competences related to bullying and cyberbullying prevention in primary education. The analysis addresses two competence dimensions: intrapersonal skills, including self-awareness, emotional regulation, resilience, and decision-making; and interpersonal skills, including empathy, communication, receptive support, collaboration, and conflict management.

The study adopted a mixed-methods design. First, a focus group with primary school teachers was conducted to identify recurring school challenges linked to bullying, cyberbullying, relational exclusion, classroom conflict, late detection, and communication with families. These findings informed the design of situational judgement scenarios grounded in authentic school experiences. Second, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of 44 primary school teachers in Spain, combining self-assessment items and applied situational cases.

The results show a generally high self-perception of socio-emotional competence, particularly in interpersonal areas such as empathy, respectful communication, collaboration, and support for pupils. Lower scores appear in intrapersonal areas related to understanding one’s own emotions, emotional regulation, and assertiveness in complex situations. The situational cases suggest that teachers perform better in scenarios involving empathetic listening and immediate support for pupils, whereas more demanding situations requiring sustained intervention, family communication, or adaptive re-planning are addressed less consistently.

These findings suggest that teacher education for bullying and cyberbullying prevention should focus not only on awareness-raising, but also on strengthening emotional self-management, applied conflict resolution, family–school communication, and context-sensitive decision-making. The study contributes a descriptive competence profile that may help guide teacher professional development in Mediterranean primary school settings.

Keywords:

Socio-emotional learning, teacher professional development, bullying, cyberbullying, school climate, primary education.