French youth panel: Combating cyberbullying

In 2018, French awareness centre "Internet sans crainte" held a youth panel about cyberbullying in Meaux, Seine-et-Marne.

Date 2018-09-04 Author French Safer Internet Centre
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The panel was made up of 132 middle school students who were 12 years old on average. 53 per cent were boys, 47 per cent were girls. The students replied to a survey about their experience with bullying and cyberbullying, which sparked conversation and debate in class.

About bullying, the survey showed that:

  • 71.2 per cent have heard about bullying at school.
  • 51.5 per cent have talked about it with their parents.
  • 25 per cent do not know how what to do if they are being bullied.
  • 43 per cent do not know what to do if they witness a bullying situation.

As for cyberbullying, the responses indicate that:

  • 23 per cent have heard about cyberbullying at school.
  • 19 per cent have talked about it with their parents.
  • 67.4 per cent do not know what to do if they are being bullied online.
  • 81.8 per cent do not know what to do if they witness a cyberbullying situation.

In light of these results, "Internet sans crainte" organised cyberbullying awareness workshops with five classes. After the workshops, the students created an awareness campaign about cyberbullying for their classmates. They also discovered a serious game called "Stop la Violence" and made their own videos about cyberbullying.

These activities allowed students to reflect on bullying and cyberbullying. Many of them realised that they should take these problems more seriously and actively seek solutions to tackle them.

A national day of action against bullying "Non au harcèlement" will take place in France on Friday, 9 November 2018.

Find out more about the work of the French Safer Internet Centre (SIC) and in particular its "Parents, Parlons-En!" video series for parents willing to address bullying and cyberbullying with their children.
 

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