– 2021-2022 –
In 2019, the United Nations reported that one in three young people worldwide had been cyberbullied (UNESCO, 2019, p.17). This led UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay to establish the International Day against Violence and Bullying in Schools in November a year later (Dumont, 2021).
The same is true around the globe: the French organization e-Enfance reported a 57% increase in cyber-violence during COVID-19-related lockdown (Dumont, 2021). In the space of two years, Quebec adopted several health measures: we spent more than 393 days in lockdown and closed all schools in the province on two occasions (Carbasse, 2022). Yet, very little statistical data exists on the cyber-violence experienced by high school students, before or during the current pandemic.
Project Objectives
Our It’s Only Online project aims to address the lack of data measuring the impacts of cyberbullying and initiatives by reaching out to teens, one school at a time. We want to create free and open resources, supported by research, involving the community, to be better informed about cyberbullying and how to respond to it. For the pilot of the project, we have chosen to focus our efforts on the city of Laval, since between 2016 and 2017, nearly 40% of Laval youth experienced violence either on their way to school or online (Portrait sociodémographique et de santé, 2021, p.164).
The steps
- Needs assessment and consultations
We meet with and collect responses from a sample of teens aged 12 to 17, youth workers (teachers, social workers), researchers and parents. We are building a picture of the knowledge, understanding and experience of cyber-violence for this age group. - Development of tools and resources
- Development of interactive workshops for students, parents and teachers
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Our partners
This project is funded by CIRA.
