Course overview

Bullying behaviors, whether virtual or face-to-face, have negative impacts not only on victims and survivors, but on bullies too. They leave scars that may never properly heal and will shape their life to come. Although the focus on the topic of bullying and cyber bullying is strong, people still asks themselves “Now, what are we really going to do about it?”.
In this course participants will reflect on the impacts that bullying and cyber bullying behaviors have and what are concrete steps that can be taken in order to not only stop, but also prevent to happen.

---

MAIN Objectives

This structured course aims increase participants’ awareness about the phenomenon, acquiring methods and tools to build a positive school and classroom environment and plan long-term strategies and policies to apply in order to prevent and reduce bullying and cyber bullying in schools.
The general aim of this course is to foster excellence in education by equipping teachers and school managers with the needed knowledge and competences to effectively prevent all forms of bullying in education and school settings.
Thanks to this course the participants will:

• Acquire a greater understanding of the various forms of bullying and deeper knowledge about impacts, risk factors and long-term effects on victims and bullies;
• Get to know how to build a positive classroom environment and develop social and emotional learning;
• Learn how to develop and enforce a school policy plan on tackling and preventing bullying at school;
• Explore and discuss the fine line between legal and illegal behavior and how to identify bullying conducts;
• Exchange good practices and discuss challenges with fellow colleagues and the course trainers about how to reduce bullying in schools;
• Network with individuals and organizations working in the education field in Europe through everyday cooperation and team-building activities.

target audience

This course is open to: teachers, trainers, headmasters, school and education managers, educational counsellors,  career counsellors, school staff, adult education staff, higher education staff, non-governmental organization staff, public servants, policy makers.

standard daily programme

Please find below the standard indicative daily programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles.
Our standard program comprises 7 days of course, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangement. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion. Upon specific request we can organize longer or shorter versions of this course.

Sunday	-  Participants arrival  -  Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city   -  Networking activities  -  Guided visit in Bologna (optional)  -  Welcome dinner
Monday	-  Course introduction -  Team building exercises -  Competences ex-ante evaluation -  What is meant by bullying and cyber bullying and how to recognise these behaviours -  Practical work, case scenarios and discussion -  Sharing best practices in bullying prevention and response
Tuesday	​-  Cultural and social perspectives and data on bullying  -  Different forms of bullying – when are behaviours more than simple bullying?  -  Characteristics of bullies and victims of bullying  -  Cultural activities in Bologna and traditional Italian aperitif
Wednesday	-  Guidelines to create a safe classroom environment  -  Activities to empower a safe classroom environment and develop social competences  -  Guided visit in Florence or Venice (optional)
Thursday	-  Cultural and social perspectives of cyber bullying  -  The different forms of cyber bullying  -  Characteristics of cyber bullies and victims of cyber bullying  -  Practical work, case scenarios and discussion
Friday	-  Schools bullying prevention programmes  -  School policies to prevent and fight cyber bullying  -  Case study, practical work and open discussion  -  Dinner in traditional Italian restaurant
Saturday	-  Space for discussion of future cooperation and planning follow up activities  -  Course roundup and final evaluation  -  Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony  -  Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)  -  Cultural activities or additional guided visit in another major Italian city (optional)  -  Participants departure

methodology

We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
The standard methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning outside the classroom in an interactive and international environment. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
Free time has been planned to give to the participants time to assimilate the concepts, develop further the group activities, ask trainers for further clarifications, etc. Networking and cooperation among participants will be supported and stimulated at each stage.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.

sessions planned

You can find below the sessions planned. If none of these dates suits you please mind that we may organize an additional session ad-hoc for your school if there are at least 6 participants interested so feel welcome to contact us at office@ifom.info to let us know about your needs. When adding an ad-hoc session we may be able to organize it in your language.

Bologna, Italy
24/03/2019 - 30/03/2019
04/08/2019 - 10/08/2019
10/11/2019 - 16/11/2019

costs and erasmus+ funding

Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs to attend our training courses including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and we offer different options to ensure that the Erasmus+ grant will be sufficient. Read more about Erasmus+ funding, shall you have any problem with your grant please let us know and we will see how to accommodate your needs.
 
The most common option that we offer costs EUR 1220 and includes course fee, certification and support fee, accommodation in single room, all coffee breaks, 3 meals per day, walking tour in the venue’s city and local transport during the training course. Based on your preferences and budget you can request different services, a less inclusive/cheaper package or you can choose to organize the board and lodging by yourself and opt to just attend the training course. Read more about how we take care of your subsistence.

Certification and validation of learning outcomes

At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance including a description of training content and as well as its starting and end date, together - if requested -  with the Europass Mobility Certificate.
We support the participants in every step of certification an d validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon request we can provide additional certification and reporting documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.

Language of the course

The course is held in English. For groups with at least 8 participants, we can organize an ad-hoc session in a different language. 
Please write an email to staff@ifom.info to get more information about it.