Although there are numerous preventive programs of peer violence in schools, few of them are focused on cyberbullying. Their biggest drawback is that the help is aimed at “face-to-face” violence and addresses only victims and perpetrators, while observers and the environment remain unnoticed as participants in the violence. Therefore, it is very important to train teachers and professional associates to identify the child’s role in the cycle of violence and to respond adequately so that the young person can heal and grow up in a stimulating social and emotional environment. When the school and all school employees are recognized as supportive, students are more likely to seek help and accept advice or conversation.

In order to make the school a safe place for students, school staff can include cyberbullying prevention measures in their program. If the school does not have the capacity for this, teachers can incorporate the following tips into their curriculum and make their classrooms a safe place where children can feel free to talk about cyberbullying:

– Demonstrate that a classroom is a safe environment :

Provide resources in the classroom to help students identify, respond to, and avoid cyberbullying, and inform them about available help-line numbers.

– Incorporate lessons on cyberbullying into your existing curriculum :

Make time to address cyberbullying directly, but also find connections between the topic, and the material that you are already teaching. No matter what subject you teach, links are always possible to find, and they require little time for preparation.

– Intervene early :

If you notice (cyber)bullying behavior, act immediately. Don’t wait until a bullied child, or a bystander asks you for help because that might not happen.

– Offer protection to the bullied person :

Aim to maintain the privacy of the person who is bullied and doesn’t discuss his/her/their situation or problem in front of his/her/their classmates.

– Include the parents :

Arrange meetings with parents of the bullied person, as well as of the person who bullied, let them know what happened, what the school is doing about it, and what they can do to support their child.

– Monitor the situation :

Don’t assume bullying has stopped only because the school intervened. Keep in touch with the bullied person to know how things are developing and if the person needs additional help or support.

In order for teachers to respond adequately and provide support to everyone involved in cyberbullying, it is important to distinguish and recognize the different roles that children can play in this process, which go beyond just the child who acts abusively and the child who suffers abuse. To respond to the needs of the children adequately, follow these tips:

– Notice :

Pay attention to changes in behavior that may be a sign that a person is being bullied (increase or decrease in phone use, hiding their screen and refusing to talk about it, avoiding social situations, dropping grades, losing interest in activities) and explore the causes.

– Listen to the bullied person :

Don’t jump to conclusions. Ask open questions and let the person say in his/her/their own words how he/her/they feel and guide them to get the support they need.

– Be persistent :

Understand that it may be hard for the person to open up about being bullied and that bullying won’t end overnight. Commit to making it stop and support the bullied person consistently.

– Address the bullying behavior :

It is important that a person who is bullying knows why his/her/their behavior is not acceptable and shows him/her/them that that kind of behavior is taken seriously. Also, work with him/her/them to understand the reasons why they decided to engage in bullying behavior.

– Address the bystanders :

Even if a person wasn’t bullied or didn’t engage in bullying behavior, he/her/they may be affected by it. Make him/her/them feel safe and teach them what they can do if they find themselves in that situation again.

By: Azra Ayyash

The International Education Film Festival is a film festival that takes place for 5 days every year in Evreux, France. Whether it is dramas or documentaries, shorts or feature films, live action or animated films, the festival’s programme is very diverse in order to reach a wide audience (educators, young audience, families, teachers…).

What is an « Education film » ? A film that encourages the audience to reflect on and question the world and society through life and coming-of-age stories of children, youth and adults.

Last, but not least, the festival is also an opportunity to discuss social issues during round tables, film debates and meetings between the world of cinema and education. Decentralized editions take place throughout France during the year in order to perpetuate this educational approach.

How to set up a film debate to talk about cyberbullying :

The film debate is an opportunity to work on one’s critical mind, to discover films, to discuss about it.

How to lead a debate ?

A debate attempts to allow everyone to express themselves and express their opinion on any subject. Each participant is asked to express his point of view and to argue on the basis of his own knowledge and personal experience.

The way the debate is conducted has an impact on its outcome. For example, a debate with young people could be complicated, as they may have difficulty getting out of the “learner” posture and becoming an “actor” in the debate.

As a facilitator, your role will be to get the word among the discussants. You don’t want to debate with them, but rather to encourage them to exchange, dialogue and express their ideas. In addition, your contributions, knowledge on the subject can help to enrich the debate if it is useful.

Preparing for the debate :

Learning more about cyberbullying : there is no need to be an expert, it is mainly a matter of being able to accompany the discussants and clearly identify the possible answers to the initial problem.

Preparing the space : the layout of the classrooms does not facilitate exchanges. It is better to set up a round or U-shaped arrangement, which is much more conducive to initiating a discussion.

Leading the debate :

Before launching the debate, it is important to define a few rules to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

Ground Rules :

– Ask for the floor

– Listen to the speaker

– Do not interrupt

– Speaking times must not exceed 2 minutes per person

– Adopt a good attitude and do not use abusive or hateful language

Organizing speaking turns :

If you have few participants, it is possible to let everyone speak freely. Otherwise, you should rather organize speaking turns. For example, you can keep a list, on which you will note the names of people who wish to speak.

When a person wishes to speak, he or she should raise his hand and wait for the moderator to give it to them. In order for everyone to express himself, when a person wishes to speak for the first time, he or she will have priority over others who have already spoken.

Stimulating the debate :

An awkward silence is coming? Don’t worry, here are a few tips to get the debate going again.

– Repeat a question asked by one of the participants, and address it to the whole group or to one participant

– Ask a question that has not been answered again: “Earlier we were talking about the fact that…

– Summarize some of the discussion and offer to react to it

Conduct of the session :

Presentation of the session and introduction of the film to the participants (10 minutes)

Screening of the film

Discussion about cyberbullying (30 minutes)

Conclusion (10 minutes)

Short film ideas :

– Toni_with_an_i by Marco Alessi | 2019 | UK | Fiction | 12 min

A young teenager does not fit in at school. Then, the Internet comes to save her.

– Virtuelle by Léopold Kraus Virtual | 2019 | France | Fiction | 23 min

Alice is like everybody else at her age ; her life is split between reality and social media. One day, her ex-boyfriend posts one of their sex tapes online to get revenge…

– I follow you by Jonatan Etzler | 2015 | Sweden | Fiction | 3 min

Anna bumps into Jesper on the crowded morning train. She has never seen him before, but it turns out that he knows everything about her. A short film about the social media and surveillance in postmodern society.

By Pierre