Problem Based Learning Coursework: Exploring the Impact of Bullying on Students' Development

Problem Based Learning Coursework (approximately 2,000 words)

Problem based learning is about finding a solution to a real world problem and as this is a Psychology module, your solution should be based on relevant psychological theory and research derived from published Journal articles. The problem to be focused on relates to Bullying and is detailed below:

The Department for Education (DfE) needs you! The DfE is a department of Her Majesty’s Government responsible for child protection, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. The DfE is concerned that the country is failing to meet Government set standards in a range of academic subjects. They are also concerned about the increasing number of children and adolescents that are suffering from poor mental health. They believe that bullying may have a role to play in both of these things. It has decided to finance a special consultancy team (you!) to explore the extent to which bullying impacts upon children’s educational, emotional and social development and to then come up with an intervention that might support students’ development in the aforementioned areas.

Guidelines for completion of the report: In preparing to complete your report for the DfE please start by familiarising yourself with the literature/content in bullying and then conduct your own literature searches to find additional relevant Journal articles.

Please organise your report into the following two sections:

Section One: The ‘problem’ (approx 1000 words)

• Outline the contextunder consideration and state the organization that has approached you. To identify the context you first need to decide on onedevelopmental area to focus on e.g. children’s academic performance or mental health. You should also decide on a target audience e.g. you may wish to focus on pre-schoolers, primary, or secondary school students (or other learner groups).
  
  
• Outline and evaluate psychological research evidence and theory to link the effects of bullying to your chosen developmental area and target audience. For example; theory and evidence that helps the reader to understand the negative effects of bullying upon mental health in primary school students. If done effectively, this should introduce the naïve reader to the context, clarify the ‘problem’ that exists, and present a summary of the psychological research evidence and theory in relation to the problem.

Section Two: The ‘solution’ (approx. 1000 words)

• Describe and justify your chosen intervention(s) with reference to psychological research evidence and theory, acknowledge both strengths and limitations of your approach If done effectively, the intervention should be informed by prior research evidence and theory and seem plausible to the naïve reader. It should link closely with the preceding coverage in Section One (theory/evidence outlines). The strongest answers will also show some critique and balance, with perhaps arguments for and against the intervention being proposed i.e. it need not be the case that the intervention is guaranteed to work, but it must be informed.
  
  
• Describe how you would evaluate/test whether this intervention has been successful and end with justification of why the proposed solution should be adopted by the organisation If done effectively, the reader will be convinced that the evaluation proposed will genuinely provide insight regarding its effectiveness.”