Address: Ploiesti, Ghe.Gr.Cantacuzino,No.328

Country: Romania

 School website

Project: Stop Bullying! Block Cyberbullying!

Working language during the project:

• Romanian
• English
   

Themes of the Council of Europe project “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:

• Preventing violence and bullying
   

Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:

• Knowledge and critical understanding of language and communication
  School/Online( zoom)
  During the whole process/stages of the project (entry, brainstorming, debate, presentation of the results)
• Co-operation skills
  School/ Online
  Finding solutions to prevent violence- volunteering, educational projects, collaborative work
• Conflict-resolution skills
  School/ Online
  Creating a virtual product (movie), using web tools
   

Target group age range:

• 15 - 19

Level of education:

• Upper secondary education

Short description of the project:

All forms of violence and bullying in schools infringe the fundamental right to education and unsafe learning environments reduce the quality of education for all learners. No country can achieve inclusive quality education if learners experience violence in school. School violence and bullying can also seriously harm the health and well-being of children and adolescents with the adverse effects: low self-esteem, health problems and identity crisis persisting into adulthood.

The thematic activities were designed for grade 10 students, aiming to provide an overview of the most up-to-date, available data on the nature, extent and impact of school violence and bullying and initiatives to address the problem, starting from the resources provided by Save the Children Romania-Block Bullying!

So we have planned and implemented 3 thematic sessions, trying to prevent and respond to school violence and bullying as part of wider efforts to address violence against youth, making a real contribution to raising awareness of the issue and to mobilising action to eliminate school violence and bullying .

Firstly, we prepared two flipchart sheets presenting the Bullying / Cyberbullying phenomenon, which emphasised the forms, and in particular the impact / consequences of the phenomenon of Bullying on all aspects of adolescent personality - psychological, behavioural, social and, of course, cognitive.

At the end of the activity, which made use of the video resources offered by Save the Children Romania, the students highlighted the great benefits of this first phase of the project - learning Empathy.

After watching the thematic movie, divided into teams, the pupils reflected on the forms of harassment, their consequences on all dimensions of their personality, giving consideration to their behavioural reactions and the types of language used by the 4 teenagers-actors of the movie. Subsequently, on flipchart sheets, the groups identified solutions for preventing and managing bullying, from the perspective of the four roles played by the characters Andrei, Bogdan, Ioana and Denisa.

Finally, in front of the class, using coloured post-its, the students filled "The Tree with solutions", and later presented their results.

The activity consisted in organising a debate, followed by brainstorming sessions, using flipchart sheets, reflecting on the ways students could turn into ambassadors / promoters of the NET classes distribution of flyers / flyers with Antibullying messages, discussions with class / school colleagues/ testimonials in front of the class / writing articles / engaging in thematic projects / thematic actions like projects and contests.

Students (in our case, three pupils involved in real-life bullying episodes respectively as aggressor, victim and witness) made the decision to forward the information / new acquisitions and behaviours, sharing flyers, presenting the other students a video resource within the " Block Violence! " Campaign, but especially by confessing their own experiences to the group.

Next, the students expressed their willingness to get involved in similar activities and to help their colleagues to manage difficult situations involving bullying, from the expert's point of view, providing advice, making collages / thematic movies.
 

Aims/objectives

• to highlight the core values of respect, tolerance, kindness, empathy, unity in diversity and friendship so as to prevent bullying and develop friendships
• to enhance critical thinking, social and cognitive skills
• to develop the teenagers’ social skills and enable them to develop positive relationships
• to strengthen the European dimension by providing intercultural dialogue through many activities promoting an awareness of the importance of friendship and of combating bullying and violence among the young people
   

Expected results/outcomes

Public policies, debates, role playing, poems, inclusive nonformal games, drawings, painting, competitions, collaborative story writing, meant to stimulate social and emotional development, enhance students ability to relate with others and boost feelings of self-confidence, stimulating self-esteem.
 

Changes

• Boosting self-confidence/ self-esteem
• Reducing local violence / bullying numbers in statistics
   

Challenges you faced

Shame related reactions; fear of exclusion/punishment when revealing the bullies
 

Time-frame of the project:

• October- November 2018 - Documentation
• November-December 2018– Implementation
• January- February 2019 – Follow-up ( Reflexion Sessions on analysing changes in the behaviours of the aggressor/victim students involved)
   

Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice:

• Living Democracy - manuals for teachers
• Teaching controversial issues-training pack
• Bookmarks