Learning the best practices to prevent bullying and cyberbullying

Bullying behaviors, whether virtual or face-to-face, have negative impacts on students and have the power to influence their life to come. It is thus fundamental to reflect on the consequences that bullying and cyberb-bullying behaviors have and what are concrete steps that can be taken in order to stop and also prevent all forms of bullying in education and school settings.​

​The new edition of the course “How to stop bullying and cyber bullying in schools and promote social emotional learning​” took place in Palermo from 01/05/2022 to 07/05/2022.
It hosted 16 participants coming all from Lithuania but from different schools: Renata, Gintvilė, Gražina, Jolanta Diana, Rasa, Dalia, Audronė, Aidutė, Loreta, Dalia, Aldona, Lina, Ona, Vaida, Rima, Dalius.

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​During our fisrt day, we brainstormed all the different kind of bullying behaviours, its forms, its participants and the three main elements which distinguish bullying from conflict. Thanks to different practical activities, we focused on bullying as a social phenomenon and we tried to identify the variety of roles involved.
We moved on talking about the risk factors that lead young people to be bullied or to bully and what we can do to prevent these situations. For this reason, we also focused on the protective factors. We looked at these different elements from four different social perspectives: family, school, individual and community. 

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​One of the main and most difficult types of bullying to be eradicated is cyber-bullying. Nowadays, Internet has a major role in the lives of our kids and, as an inceberg, it has some advantages but it may also have negative consequences for children and young people. With some practical activities we explored the world of cyber-bullying and discussed about the differences between traditional and cyber bullying and the things that they have in common. In order to better understand this phenomenon, we looked at the different ways in which cyber-bullying may occur. Moreover, we implemented a very powerful activity which can be used both with students, parents and teachers to put ourselves in the shoes of bullying victims and raise awareness. 

​In order to prevent bullying behaviours it is vital to foster a positive and supportive classroom environment. This is why we explored the topics of emotional intelligence, membership,  inclusion, team building and collaboration. These are pillars for a supportive classroom and should not be underestimated. Of course we focused on all these topics with a lot of non formal and creative activities and games, thanks to which it was impossible to get bored.

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​Apart from the training activities, the group also had the opportunity to discover Palermo and its surroundings. The course was a great experience for all of them and everybody gave their contribution to make the most of it by sharing ideas and experiences.

ELA is looking forward to welcoming you again!

Discover more about this course in: https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/stop-bullying.htm