Abstract
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.
TopEducating To Prevent
Education is broadly considered to be the key to diminishing the occurrences and effects of cyberbullying (Chang, 2010; Cremin & Bevington, 2017; Meredith, 2010; Nelson, Palonsky, & McCarthy, 2017; Simmons & Bynum, 2014).
The educational perspective is broadly agreed by researchers. They argue that educational programs should be designed and run in order to best prepare children to avoid and deal with cyberbullying and its related issues (Couvillon & Ilieva, 2011; Jones, Mitchell & Walsh, 2014; Meter & Bauman, 2015; Navarro, Yubero & Larrañaga, 2015; Rice et al., 2015; Smith, Thompson & Davidson, 2014). Moreover, many anti-cyberbullying educational programs share the idea that it is crucial promoting and raising children and adolescent awareness on the positive use of the internet and social networks. This is the case of ConRed (Casas, Del Rey & Ortega-Ruiz, 2018) an anti-cyberbullying educational program that addresses three key goals:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Is classified by the American Psychiatric Association as a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape, or other violent personal assault.
Social Educator: Is an independent, and recognized, professional figure linked to the scope of the social professions.
Social Rehabilitation: Is related the social sphere of an individual; it includes services such as rehabilitation nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, audiology, dietetics, prosthetics and orthotics, podiatry, clinical psychology, as well as art therapy and music therapy.
Social Telerehabilitation: Is the application of ICT to provide equitable access to social rehabilitation services, at a distance, to individuals who are geographically remote, and to those who are physically and economically disadvantaged.
Cyber Safety: Encompasses the safe and responsible use of ICT.