Cyberbullying, or bullying carried out via online, is unfortunately a common situation in all kinds of schools, due to the proliferation of new technologies. The use of internet and mobile devices can become a very dangerous weapon of harassment and humiliation, if we do not educate our children correctly.

In the fight against cyberbullying, the school and the teachers that are part of it play a fundamental role when it comes to avoiding it and preventing future incidents. Let’s see what can we do against it:

What can schools do to fight cyberbullying?

The first thing that can be done against bullying is to create a safe environment in the school, where children feel safe from any threat, and it is clear to all which attitudes are accepted and which are not.

For this, it is advisable to create a manual detailing which attitudes are considered bullying, along with recommendations on what should be done in case of being a victim or witness of any of these situations. This manual should be known by both students and parents, and it is the teachers’ responsibility to remember and educate their students about the contents of this manual.

In this sense, teachers must adopt an active role of observation and neutralization of harassment attitudes. We must bear in mind that cyberbullying is carried out through new technologies, so we pay attention to these channels and detect these situations as soon as possible. This role should also be adopted by the parents, to extend the surveillance to the moments when the children are not in class.

Educating students against bullying also involves teaching how to make a responsible use of new technologies, eliminating the sense of impunity that sometimes leads the bully to commit certain acts that probably would not take place in real life. It is also important to educate on aspects such as emotional intelligence, social skills, and attention to diversity; that will make students more aware of the harassing attitudes that occur around them.

The management of incidents related to cyberbullying should be managed from an anti-bullying task force, which will be formed by representatives of the school, teachers, parents and students. This cabinet will undertake all kinds of measures to prevent bullying, such as:

  • Detection of students with social difficulties, to whom they can assign company or occupation, in order to avoid being victims of bullying.
  • Research on the technologies used by the bullies to do cyberbullying, and tracking them to verify the occurrence of incidents among students of the school.
  • Assigning mentors of higher courses to students in lower grades who are at risk of being victims of bullying.
  • Establishment of an anonymous reporting system, where both the victim and any witness can report a cyberbullying situation without fear of possible reprisals.

The fight against cyberbullying or bullying in general should be a task in which all parties involved should participate: students, teachers, school staff and parents. Thanks to the combined action of all of them, it is possible to educate children in the use of new technologies and respect for others.