A school class consists of a group of students who interact with each other and who differ in their positions and roles in the structure of the group, while having a common system of values and norms regulating the behavior of its members in matters important for the class (Łobocki, 1974). The school class is the educational environment where attitudes are shaped and patterns of behavior, norms and values are passed on. Interpersonal contacts taking place within the classroom are important for the development of a young person's personality. For many students, the class is a source of acceptance and positive self-esteem, provides its members with a sense of belonging, support, and gives a sense of security and satisfaction from being in a group of positively perceived and friendly peers. For some, however, being in this group may be a source of unpleasant sensations, uncertainty, and, consequently, the formation of a negative and hostile attitude towards others.

Bullying is a distinctive form of violence observed when intentional, repeated aggression is directed against an individual on a long-term basis. Another characteristic of bullying is an imbalance of power between the bully and his/her victim. The power differential is often due to physical, psychological or social factors, which makes it difficult for the student-victim to defend himself/herself against aggressive actions (Olweus, 1993; 2010; Salmivalli et al., 1996).

An attempt to understand the complex nature of bullying leads to the recognition of the social character of this phenomenon and the identification of all its participants. These are not only pupils who are bullies and victims (alternatively bully-victims), but also witnesses. Within the student-witness group (bystanders), there are assistants of the bully, reinforcers of the bully, outsiders, and defenders of the victim (Coloroso, 2009; Salmivalli et al., 1996). Assistants of the bully are students who join the leader who is bullying another student and actively help him/her. Supporters of the bully are students who, through their behavior, confirm the bully’s belief that his/her actions are right and reinforce them, for example by verbally encouraging aggressive behaviors, cheering on the bully or laughing at the victim. Even subtle positive feedback by verbal or non-verbal cues is probably rewarding for the bully. Outsiders do nothing in a bullying situation, they try to remain disengaged onlookers or show their independence and lack of commitment. Defenders of the victim, in turn, take sides with the victim. Their actions may be indirect, for example when they turn to a third party for help or comfort the victim after the bullying incident and try to provide support in various ways. They may also become involved in a direct intervention in the bullying situation and try to stop the bully and/or stand up for the victim (van der Ploeg et al., 2017).

Based on the above information, it should be stated that the social context is important for the bullying phenomenon. It occurs more often in school environments in which the bully’s aggressive behaviors are reinforced by his/her peers, that is, the phenomenon is sustained by them, and victims are rarely defended (Salmivalli, Voeten, Poskiparta, 2011).

Considering the above assumptions, the scientific goal of the project was first to explore the social context of the classrooms with special emphasis on the characteristics of interpersonal relationships in the classrooms and various participant roles in relation to peer bullying. Second aim was to gain a better insight into the perception of bullying and many of its aspects from the perspective of students by joint analysis of hypothetical bullying situations.

The research was carried out in two stages with the use of various research methods and techniques of quantitative and qualitative strategies. The first stage consisted of quantitative research using the self-report method and peer nomination. The following techniques were used: (1) „Plebiscite of kindness and reluctance” of J. Korczak, (2) an adopted version of the „guess-who” technique and (3) „Students’ General School Experience” survey prepared for this research. The subject of the analysis of the data obtained in this way were the mutual relations of liking and disliking as well as the sociometric position of each student. The emotional expansion of the respondents expressing the attitude of the individual to the group, their overall assessment of their relations with peers, the assessment of their school and experiences related to peer violence were also analyzed. It was assumed that the similar experiences of students and the roles they play in the group may translate into a similar opinion on some issues related to the problem of school bullying. After analyzing the empirical data obtained in the first stage, the second stage was carried out, the essence of which were focused group interviews conducted in small groups of students. The focus group reveals not only a variety of positions on a certain issue, but also "dilemmas hidden under everyday obviousness". Focus interviews were conducted in small groups of students identified on the basis of the data from the first stage. The key to grouping the students was the group roles they played, if they could be identified on the basis of peer nomination. In the remaining cases, the interviews were conducted with groups of students divided according to gender. 16 interviews were conducted, usually in groups of 4-8 students. The interviews lasted from 15 to 30 minutes. The starting point for focus group interviews were hypothetical bullying situations presented in the form of pictorial vignettes prepared for the project by its author. The students were presented with pictorial vignettes illustrating in the right order a bullying situation and given sufficient time to study them. After that, a facilitator led a discussion according to the previously prepared scenario.

Based on the collected data, two groups of classrooms were distinguished. The first group consists of classes with a dispersed social structure, which means that almost every student is liked by someone. Sociometric choices are evenly distributed. These are groups that are relatively homogeneous in terms of the sociometric structure, where members like each other. In these classes, aggressive behaviors were rare, and the problem of bullying was absent. The second group are school classes that are more heterogeneous and structured in terms of status. These classes include people isolated and rejected by the group, the emotional expansion of the respondents towards the peer group is varied, and the perception of the school environment is not unequivocally positive. In these classes, different roles of students related to the problem of bullying were distinguished. Based on the data collected through focus group interviews, it was possible to learn and bring closer to the students' perception of bullying situations and their various aspects. These issues will be the subject of the presentation. The general conclusion that emerges from this research concerns the concentration on the classroom educational environment and learning about the culture of the peer group. This will create an opportunity to develop a specific map of the social reality of students, which will be the basic source of information about students and will help teachers to navigate this reality. This type of approach will provide the most accurate and up-to-date information and understanding on the issue of bullying obtained from the most reliable source. So, instead of "coming from the outside" with a ready intervention program that imposes an adult interpretation of peer violence, it is more appropriate to get to know the group of students and social structure of classrooms and engage in dialogue and cooperation with students.

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