Preventing cyberbullying through ICT-centric education: a case study

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies have examined the phenomenon of bullying. The development of information and communications technology (ICT) has enabled an emerging form of bullying known as cyberbullying. This article presents a case study of an Internet-focused bullying prevention programme in a Spanish secondary school with 627 students, from a non-experimental, qualitative perspective. The data collected show an ICT-centric institutional framework that supports bullying prevention programmes. The results also indicate an institutional culture highly adapted to ICT based on teleological, psycho-pedagogical, administrative and community dimensions. This culture has favoured the development of the cyberbullying prevention programme studied in this article.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyberbullying
• ICT
• violence in schools
• prevention programme
• institutional culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Catalan, Spanish, English, natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, technology, music and others.

2. For example, all those tips, activities, and recommendations offered by specific websites such as INCIBE (https://www.incibe.es), CESICAT (https://ciberseguretat.gencat.cat/ca/inici), Pantallas Amigas (http://www.pantallasamigas.net) and others obtained from social networks that advise experts on this subject.

3. The promotion of programmes to integrate and strengthen ICT in this institution began more than a decade before the launch of national initiatives by Spain’s Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport such as the School 2.0 Programme (http://www.ite.educacion.es/eu/escuela-20).

4. This document is public and can be accessed through the secondary school’s website: https://agora.xtec.cat/iestorredelpalau

5. This document is public and can be accessed through the secondary school’s website: https://agora.xtec.cat/iestorredelpalau/

6. The disciplinary cases provided by the director in charge of the institution were analysed anonymously for this work. In the document analysed, only the number of cases reviewed yearly by the disciplinary committee appears along with a report on what happened in each case.

7. The documentation analysed was delivered by the director of the centre, with the authorisation of the management committee. The analysis focused on the procedure and skills documents promoted through the programme studied.

8. The research agreement only allowed contact with students through teaching support.

9. Teachers are directly assigned by the Catalonian government’s Department of Education.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elias Said-Hung

Elias Said-Hung: Full professor at the Education Faculty, member of the research group PROCOMM and Director of the master’s degree in Inclusive and Intercultural Education of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).

Evaristo Gonzalez-Prieto

Evaristo González-Prieto: Director of the Educational Institution Torre del Palau. Associate professor of the International Master of Communication and Education at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Marc Pallarès-Piquer

Marc Pallarès-Piquer: Ph.D. in Pedagogy and Audiovisual Communication. Lecturer at the Universidad Jaime I.