A Cyberbullying Portfolio for School Social Educators

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.