#BULLYINGisNEVERok Erasmus Project

Project Title

#BULLYINGisNEVERok

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

The fight against discrimination and violence in school contexts represents a priority for educational institutions across Europe. The need to create a safe, inclusive and suitable school context for learning requires the adoption of common strategies. One of the main challenges that education systems in Europe are facing consists, as stated by the Council of Europe in the document “Strategy for the rights of the Child (2016-2021)”, in the need to cope with the growing phenomena of violence, racism, radicalisation and incitement to hatred, as well as to monitor the use of digital technologies in order to prevent abuse and the spread of practices of cyberbullying.
The bullying and cyberbullying, in fact, represent widespread challenges and difficult to fight, at the basis of phenomena of social isolation and disaffection in school. Actions to combat the phenomenon must necessarily start by analysing and understanding the damaging effects that the acts of bullying can have on others within the school population. The problem, therefore, requires to be addressed through a holistic approach that acts on the development of social skills and on the emotional ability and the empathy of the students, encouraging the acquisition of values that relate to equal opportunities and freedom of expression, mutual respect and appreciation of diversity, the foundational elements of European democracies. The entire civil society must work to prevent the violation of these rights, especially with reference to the sections of the most vulnerable population.

The project “#BULLYINGisNEVERok” is born from the desire expressed by 4 schools in Europe (Institute Ferrari, IES Las Encinas, Zespol Szkol Technicznych, 6th Gymnasium of Drama) to network in order to fight the growing and modern phenomenon of bullying and cyberbullying, activating a collaboration that allows the promotion of the spirit of inclusion and equality to confront the violence in its various forms and the education of students in order to let them use the web consciously, giving value to good practices and experiences. The planning action aims at encouraging, therefore, the development of social skills and emotional aspects of students, by promoting a culture of mutual support and acting on the basis of racial, ethnic, social discrimination and gender. The exchange and comparison that were established thanks to the project, but through the creation of 4 combined mobilities too (alternation between physical and virtual mobility) intended for 160 students with an age range between 15 and 16 years old for a total duration of 4 days, excluding 2 traveling days, in Italy, Spain, Poland and Greece, will allow the enhancement of the diversity at first from a cultural and ethnic point of view, but with the promotion of a culture of respect and tolerance too.

The project intends to pursue the following objectives:
– to promote both a digital education and a responsible and aware use of internet among the new generations, by supporting the process of digital literacy;
– To sensitise students about the phenomena of bullying and cyberbullying, promoting a greater knowledge of the problem, trying to break down the wall of silence through the creation of contexts for both dialog and mutual support;
– To Allow the development of social and emotional skills that can both supplement the education and promote personal as well as professional developments for the tudents;
– To Experiment with new ways of interaction that are capable of acting on the willingness of the student to submerge themselves in the other, promoting the development of positive attitudes;
– To stimulate the exchange of good practice and comparison between the different educational systems in Europe and specifically between schools which strongly feel the importance of the discussed theme;
– To give a concrete response to the acts of bullying as the participating schools are witnesses, acting on the basis of the factors that may cause them and who often have a negative effect also on school participation too.

The planning action, in coherence with the identified objectives, will both allow the generation of tangible results that are both produced by the students and the teachers (as shown below) and will help to spread the knowledge of the discussed issues within the school community and give continuity and impulse to the planning action. In the long term, also thanks to the development of activities that will allow the sustainability of the action planning, schools will benefit from impacts that relate to the creation of tools and mechanisms to fight the phenomena of bullying and cyberbullying, and support thoroughly the active involvement and participation of students within the school community.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 75721,26 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “Enzo Ferrari” & Country: IT

Project Partners

• IES Las Encinas
• Zespol Szkol Technicznych im. gen. prof. S. Kaliskiego w Turku
• 6TH Secondary School of Drama