A Cyberbullying Portfolio for School Social Educators

In this chapter, a curriculum for school social educators will be presented and discussed. It aims to provide them with basic competences to combat cyberbullying and conduct internet safety programs in schools. In the previous chapters, multifarious aspects related to cyberbullying have been highlighted. Literature is rich in analysis and experiments that, nowadays, are being conducted everywhere, not only in Western countries. Cyberbullying is a global phenomenon, although there are differences depending on cultural attitudes (e.g., gender aspects and other factors related to the perception and evaluation of online harassment). Cyberbullying is closely connected to technology. Among human beings, harassing, harming, and defaming others is not a recent habit, but technology has exploded the scale of the harassment, harming, and defamation with hugely disruptive consequences. To combat the effect of the malicious use of technology, professional experts are necessary that should also be educators, since they should work inside the school. Cyber safety competences should be included in the curriculum of social educators in the same way as are competences to sustain children with behavioral disturbance, support mentally ill persons, assist elderly persons, rehabilitate drug and alcohol addicts, integrate migrants, and so on. From the experience of running a training course for social workers in Poland on cyber threats, and from comparison with other teaching-learning practices on cyberbullying prevention, a portfolio of competence has been defined.

Anti-Cyberbullying Interventions

In this chapter, interventions aimed at combating cyberbullying will be presented and discussed. Since the middle of the 2000s, various anti-cyberbullying programs have been implemented, but evidence for their effectiveness is limited since most of these programs are the result of experimentations and limited-size studies. Particular attention will be devoted to peer group educational interventions, since it has been suggested that this is the best way to reduce the risk of cyberbullying and buffer its negative impacts. Anti-cyberbullying programs are usually designed to be run in schools and foresee the involvement of teachers and many of them are derived from anti-bullying programs. This does not invalidate or limit their reliability or efficacy. In fact, the value of educational interventions depends on how they are re-adapted, as well as on the competence and expertise of the trainers and facilitators involved. Finally, school anti-cyberbullying regulations will be discussed, since they should be considered to all effects and purposes as primary anti-cyberbullying interventions.

Cyberbullying at School

It is very important to collocate the occurrence of cyberbullying with a negative school environment. School bullying is widely known to be associated with many negative indicators, including lower academic achievement, lower school satisfaction, and lower levels of attachment and involvement at school. Several studies have combined cyberbullying with negative school experiences, such as lower academic performance and negative perceptions of the school climate. Moreover, many have suggested a strong link between the climate in the school and both traditional and cyberbullying. Some recent studies have shown that people who are perpetrators of cyberbullying and those who are victims both report a worse climate in schools than others not involved in the behavior. A poor disciplinary climate is one in which students are either unaware of the rules and the consequences of violations or one in which students are unmotivated to internalize and conform to the rules because they feel that they are unfair or unimportant. Weak parental involvement implies that the parents are not involved with the student's school life; they provide no help with homework, have very little communication with teachers, and rarely assist with school activities. Having a lack of didactic pressure means that neither teachers nor students hold high expectations for their academic achievement.

Cyberbullying and Social Networking Sites

Media pay considerable attention to episodes that involve children and adolescents and the internet. Usually, the excessive time spent on social networking sites is highlighted as the principal source of risk for cyberbullying as well as for the various types of cyber addictions that can develop. Anonymity is reported to be one of the principal factors that favor cyberbullying, whilst sexting and homophobia are indicated as being among the principal circumstances that bring victims to commit suicide. In this chapter, some relevant aspects of the use of social networking sites will be illustrated and some notions regarding how the internet works will be introduced. Other questions, such as the spread of cyber hate and online incivility will be discussed, and a case of the incautious use of Facebook by a higher public education institution will be reported. Many concepts highlighted here will be useful in the following chapters in which strategies for the prevention of cyberbullying will be considered.

Cyberbullying

Parents and educators fill a number of functions for children and young people. Amongst the most important functions that close relatives can provide is to support a child through the type of difficult, stressful situation in life which cyberbullying represents. The sense of parental responsibility for the safety of children using the internet is very important. However, they do not always feel well prepared for this role. In this context, the involvement of educators is also important. Good practices exist, but they are not universally applied and require promotion and dissemination. The way the family functions significantly influences the way children are brought up, and the future lifestyle of young people depends on the nature of the relationships and interpersonal relations they will create in adult life. In guiding young people towards proper social functioning, the involvement of educators, social workers, and teachers is extremely significant. They have a special role in the case of cyberbullying. The safety of the young depends on their competences and qualifications, but also on the correct application of appropriate measures. There are already some good practices in this area that are worth exploring.

Educational Approaches for Tackling Cyberbullying

It is indisputably true that education is invoked by researchers and practitioners as an essential element to reverse the growth of cyberbullying and to mitigate the serious negative mental and physical consequences it has on victims. The key idea emerging from expert opinion is that online safety education and anti-cyberbullying educational programs are both essential in schools. These programs should involve, at different levels, students, educators, and parents. However, designing and running effective educational programs requires not only the comprehensive knowledge of the cyberbullying phenomenon but also educational competencies. In this chapter, the leading educational approaches adopted in cyberbullying educational interventions will be introduced highlighting the underlying psychological theories on which their effectiveness has grounded. In particular, participatory approaches, as well as peer education, will be introduced and discussed since they are universally recognized to be the most fruitful in cyberbullying educational programs.

Setting Anti-Cyberbullying Legal Policies

It is a broadly shared opinion that establishing the illegitimacy of cyberbullying is a primary action in combating it. In this regard, schools should openly declare that cyberbullying is not an acceptable or admissible behavior, and firm rules regarding this phenomenon should be implemented by them. In this chapter, the problem of setting anti-cyberbullying legal policies will be addressed. Two cases are illustrated and discussed, the famous case of Lori Drew related to the suicide of Megan Meier that occurred in 2006, and the Italian case of Tiziana Cantone whose suicide occurred 10 years later. In fact, the latter was not a cyberbullying case, but it is remarkable since it generated a huge emotional reaction among Italian people that ultimately led to the implementation of the Italian law against cyberbullying in 2017 and, in 2019, brought about the law against the unsolicited sharing of compromising erotic pictures or video, known as revenge porn. Both cases illustrate the issues that may arise in drawing effective anti-cyberbullying laws. The absence of a univocal definition of cyberbullying and the pressure of public opinion negatively affects the establishment of appropriate legal policies. Indeed, the formulation of a law implies unequivocally identifying an infraction and having clear rules to punish it. The current legal situation of cyberbullying in different countries is highlighted, focusing on the USA and Europe, and the general questions regarding the criminalization and punishment of cyberbullying are also analyzed. Finally, the use and positive influence of anti-cyberbullying regulations at schools are reviewed and discussed.

Technological Help to Prevent and Reduce Cyberbullying

This chapter intends to present the most common technological solutions that can be implemented to prevent and reduce cyberbullying. Three main questions will be addressed: How can children stay safe online? What can the information technology (IT) industry do to combat cyberbullying? How effective is automatic cyberbullying detection? The chapter will illustrate the progress that has been made to reduce cyberbullying through technological means and discuss the notion of industry self-regulation. Indeed, the IT industry has a responsibility to respect societal obligations towards users, especially when users are children. While many companies in the industry are working responsibly on solutions for the safer use of technology, some global internet service providers are involved in the illicit use of users' personal data. As a consequence, problems of online safety cannot be solved locally, but through concerted actions undertaken at an international level.

Cyberbullying Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders

The documented effects of cyberbullying take a burden on all those involved, but also impact the wider social environment as well. Victims experience difficult emotions: feelings of humiliation and worthlessness, shame, fear, despair, and sadness. In the long run, they may suffer reduced self-esteem and interpersonal problems: difficulties in establishing contacts and a tendency to withdrawal and isolation. The consequences for perpetrators include the consolidation of aggressive patterns of behavior, the lowering of the sense of responsibility for their own actions, the tendency to antisocial behavior, and the easy slide into conflicts with the law. Witnesses of violence, who are not able to effectively oppose it, or who do not try, often keep their feelings of guilt, dissatisfaction, and self-recrimination for years. For some, it will internalize patterns of passivity, helplessness, and unresponsiveness in difficult situations. This being the case, deepening our knowledge about all of the participants involved in cyberbullying and their mutual relations is of crucial importance.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying represents a topical risk, especially for the online generation that is continuously connected and socializes through the internet. This chapter presents an overview of the research on cyberbullying, from the earliest studies to the most recent. It discusses the broad variety of definitions of cyberbullying that exist and highlights its essential differences from traditional bullying. The authors then go on to illustrate and discuss the multifarious facets of cyberbullying, including the (relative) anonymity of perpetrators and the repetition of bullying acts. Further research developments are explored in the light of criticisms of Olweus, who argued that inconsistent findings and exaggerated claims plague much of the research on cyberbullying. Finally, new emerging forms of harassment, such as revenge porn and virtual rape, are also introduced.