KINDNESS AGAINST CYBER-BULLYING

ContextThe increased use of technology as well as social media by kids and teenagers, made bullying become more widely spread online. The phenomenon has become harder and harder to be identified, as bullies usually hide under fake identity. Unfortunately, studies on bullying have shown that the effects are extremely serious. In addition to some negative effects such as a low level of self-confidence and self-esteem, cyberbullying influences students' interest in school, thus leading to a poor academic performance. Moreover, specialists consider cases involving violence and suicide to be first-degree risks. Due to the fact that students are not prepared to face and manage extreme emotional challenges, all of them very often become unable to understand that they are cyberbullying victims and they choose to be quiet and live their painful experience silently. Thus, the project focuses on our students as well as on their parents – our purpose is to make students use the Internet and social media responsibly, to work on the frequency of cyberbullying and to make it drop significantly. We aim to offer assistance to parents in monitoring online activities and in identifying cyberbullying signs in their children's behaviour.Therefore, we do believe it is vital to fully develop the project, so as to assist both students and their parents to identify and respond to cyber bullying. With the project, we aim to raise awareness for school to update their set of safety strategies, in order to have their students better protected against cyberbullying.In order to enhance a common strategy against cyberbullying, all the schools involved in this project will focus on cooperation and exchange of best practices as well as general guidelines. Students will be our priority as we want to get them involved in the various activities. Parents will be invited to workshops tailored for them. To achieve our goals, we will organise five exchanges on different focus areas.Objectives-To reduce cyberbullying incidence during the two years;-To increase awareness of our target group (at least 80%);- To improve the ability of the parents in order to supervise the online activity of their children, by writing a parental guide and organising four workshops;- To build an innovative online platform where incidents caused by cyberbullying should be reported, a platform that the schools involved will use immediately after the end of the project ( 2022-2023);- To increase our students’ awareness regarding interculturality and improve their communicative skills;- To stimulate students’creativity, as well as their critical thinking; - To develop involved schools’ European dimension due to international cooperation.ParticipantsThe target group – 170 students aged 12-14 in each school. Participants in exchanges – 100 students (20 students from each country) – attend regular classes, topic-related lectures and workshops, cultural activities.Parents of target group students – will take part in workshops addressed to them during the exchanges and also after the exchanges, as each school will implement similar workshops with its target group parents.ActivitiesC1 – Cyberbullying present in schools of Europe - Study of cases, current situation, statistics in the schools involved.C2 – In what way do I really spend time connected ? – Guidelines exchange for Internet and mobile phones.C3 – According to what should I find out if I am cyberbullied? – Cyberbullying, incidents and manifestations- identification.C4 – Which are cyberbullying consequences concerning both the victim and the bully? - psychological consequences, legal and ethical standards addressed to activities online.C5 – What should I do when I am bullied? - Reporting online incidents and cyberbullying.ResultsBecause of our collaboration, we will deliver the following final products that will be used in schools as well as freely shared on platforms (eTwinning, the website of the project, EPRP ): a. Beginning and ending cyberbullying analysis in the schools (IT)b. Digital security guide ( focusing on students’needs ) (RO)c. Brochure “Causes and consequences of cyberbullying” (PL)d. Guide on parental monitoring of online (LT)e. Online monitoring site for bullying cases (focusing on students as well as on their parents) (TR)f. Collections of cyberbullying activities for use by students (All partners)ImpactThe incidence of cyberbullying will be reduced, students will be made more capable to identify cyberbullying and to decide what actions to take in such circumstances. Parents will provide their children with the necessary and relevant support. Schools will become local resources. Teachers will have gained a valuable capacity for project management, which will help them develop good-quality future Erasmus+ initiatives. All the participants will acquire the sense of European identity.