Showing the way forward over bullies

OLDHAM Council says it is leading the way among local authorities with an innovative approach to tackling cyberbullying.

It has selected this week – Anti-Bullying Week 2013 – to highlight its work in dealing with the issue.

Working co-operatively with Oldham Youth Council, the eSafety subgroup of the Local Children Safeguarding Board developed a set of ‘Young People’s Digital Rights’.

These rights are focused on what young people can expect from being online — such as the expectation to not be insulted anonymously — as opposed to telling them what not to do. Using these rights the group has developed a series of workshops and resources for use in the classroom and with children of all ages.

These resources include several workshops, where children are asked to simulate a cyberbullying situation before talking about it as a group, an eSafety curriculum and materials to give to parents.

Oldham Youth Council has taken the lead in several areas too, producing a specialist toolkit for Blackberry Messenger.

Following presentations by council officers at national conferences the resources and workshops are being requested by local authorities and schools across the country.

Cyberbullying has become a major concern in recent years, following several cases where teenager’s suffering was so great that they took their own lives following online abuse.

Often cyberbullying incidents occur as a result of a simple falling out between friends. However when this happens on social media the spat gains an audience who don’t have to be there at the time but can ‘like’ an insult hours later.