In order to identify regional, national and European successful practices in the field of countering bullying with the greatest emphasis on the programs that use modern technologies, we carried out a complex research in each participating country. Findings reflected in this research constitute a solid basis for the development of content for Innovative tool for countering bullying in the next phase of the project. It helps us to identify how the VR scenarios and workshop curriculum should be designed to induce the greatest interest in youth and to have the greatest educational impact.
Three main methods have been used in the implementation of the research:
Phase 1: Structured interviews with youth workers
In each partner country, we conducted structured interviews with the youth workers and public authorities in the field of countering bullying to find out:
– Opinions and experiences of youth workers in the field of anti-bullying initiatives;
– Opinions and experiences of youth workers in the use educational games and modern technologies for development of psychosocial skills and competencies;
– Tools, methodologies and types of procedures and its effectiveness used by youth workers;
– Needs for transversal skills, competencies and tools development of youth workers in an area of countering bullying.
Phase 2: Youth questionnaire on bullying and modern technology
We created a questionnaire that allowed young people to share their experiences with bullying, anti-bullying initiatives and their effectiveness, as well as their experiences with modern technology.
Phase 3: Desk research
With the desk research we have identified the existing practices and their success rate at different organizations (educational system, NGO-s, social services, etc.) that work in the field of countering bullying and discrimination, with the special emphasis on the practices that use modern technologies. We have identified effective and non-effective characteristics of these tools and potential impediments of using them regularly in youth work, which gave us the basis for the development of content for the Innovative tool for countering bullying.
The information gathered through the structured interviews, youth questionnaires and desk research will be summed up in a Comprehensive study of the best anti-bullying practices which will be widely disseminated to relevant stakeholders by the end of this year.
Images: students filling out an online questionnaire and Greek researcher Foteini Papadatou interviewing youth workers.
