THE COMPLETE PSHE PROGRAMME
Key Stage 4
13.2 Online bullying
Learning objectives:
• To understand what online bullying is
• To understand the laws on online bullying
• To consider the effects of online bullying
Resources:
• PowerPoint 13.2
• Worksheet 13.2a
• Worksheet 13.2b
• Link to KS3: Book 1, Unit 9.2
Key vocabulary: bullying, online bullying, bully, victim, discrimination, harassment, fines, imprisonment
See KS3 lesson linked above for further information on how to report online bullying and how to get support with internet trolling.
Get them thinking! (5 mins)
• Ask: ‘How do we know if we have hurt someone with a comment or a post online?’ (We don’t! Unless we ask, or they or someone else tells us or reports us.)
Core learning (25 mins)
• Go through Slide 1 and discuss it with the class, clarifying any misconceptions if required.
• Ask the class where online bullying can take place. Write their suggestions on the board and then go to Slide 2 to check that they have thought of all of t he different places bullying can happen online. Discuss the potential for ‘accidental’ bullying online. (E.g. banter, a comment that could be read incorrectly, ganging up in online gaming.)
• Next, go through Slide 3 with the class to clarify the law regarding online bullying. See the slide notes for details of the relevant Acts.
• Ask students, ‘Why do people bully online?’ Discuss their ideas and write these on the board, then go to ‘Help me out – being a bully’ on the BBC website: www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-beinga-bully?collection=lifebabble-guide-to-bullying. Watch the short film ‘Why do people bully?’ with the class. Here young people talk about some of the reasons people bully (e.g. to fit in with a group, to not be bullied themselves, to help take their mind of their own problems, to give them a sense of power, because they don’t realise they are bullying, becaus e they are or have been bullied themselves).
• Hand out Worksheet 13.2a and ask students, working individually or in pairs, to write a bullying scenario, deciding on the location and bullying comments made following the guidance on the worksheet. Display Slide 2 again as support. Once they have created a scenario, they then consider how both victim and bully might feel. You might like to enlarge a copy of this worksheet to model the activity before they begin, depending on your cohort.
• Allow time for students to share their scenarios in pairs on completion.
Additional learning (15 mins)
• Go back the BBC bullying page (www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-being-abully?collection=lifebabble-guide-to-bullying) and show the clips ‘What can you do if you think you might have been bullying someone?’ and/or ‘How to stop’. Discuss these after viewing as a class.
• Hand out Worksheet 13.2b and allow students time to go through this and then to share it with a partner. Follow this up with a class discussion on the activity. Plenary (5 mins)
• Recap everything students have learned and answer any questions and go to Slides 4 and 5 - Remind students that there are many places they can get support for bullying issues. Go through the slide with them. (See notes on slide.)
Assessment
• Use the worksheets to assess students’ understanding.
Extension or home learning
• Extension: Ask students to use Worksheet 13.2a to create a piece of art exploring online bullying based on the activity.
• Home learning: Ask students to research how bullying affects both victims and bullies into later life and share all their new knowledge with the school in an assembly.
Worksheet 13.2a Online bullying
Create an online bullying situation, then think about the consequences of this action on both the victim and the bully. Use the back of the sheet if you need more room.
1. Where is this bullying taking place online?
2. What has been written or posted online, now and previously by the bully to the victim?
Comment 1. Bully:
Comment 2. Bully:
Comment 3. Bully:
Victim’s response, if any: (Victims often choose not to react/respond, so you might decide not to include any response, it is your choice.)
3. How would these comments make the victim feel? (Give a detailed description and explain why.)
4. How would this make the bully feel? (Give a detailed description and explain why.)
Immediately:
Later in life:
Worksheet
13.2b
What to do if you think you are a bully
Imagine you are a bully. Consider these statements about what to do if you think you could bullying someone. Number them in terms of how hard you th ink this would be to do. (There are no right or wrong answers as everyone will feel and respond differently.)
Give each statement a rating from 1 to 10: 1 being really easy to do, 10 being really hard to do.
When you have finished, compare your answers with a partner’s. Were any the same? Were any different? Why do you both think this is?
Rating 1–10
Admitting to yourself you have bullied someone
Apologising to the person you have bullied
Working out why you did it
Asking for help
Stopping bullying for good
Talking to someone about personal problems
Imagining what it would feel like if it were you being bullied
Owning up to it with your friends
Owning up to it with your family/carers
Asking the person you have bullied how you made them feel
Admitting you made a mistake
Learning from your mistake and using it to help others
What do you think is the most important advice to give to someone who thinks they have been or are being a bully and why?
Useful websites for more information and support: Anti-bullying Alliance: www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/tools-information/if-youre-being-bullied/find-helpand-support
Childline: www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/types-bullying/bullying-cyberbullying/