Dialogic Model of Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts: Evidence of the Success of Cyberbullying Prevention in a Primary School in Catalonia

Abstract

This article analyses the evidence obtained from the application of the dialogic model of prevention and resolution of conflicts to eradicate cyberbullying behaviour in a primary school in Catalonia. The Dialogic Prevention Model is one of the successful educational actions identified by INCLUD-ED (FP6 research project). This case study, based on communicative methodology, includes the results obtained from documentary analysis, communicative observations and in-depth interviews. The evidence collected indicates that the implementation of this type of model can help to overcome cyberbullying; children are more confident to reject violence, students support the victims more and the whole community is involved in Zero Tolerance to violence.

Propelling Children’s Empathy and Friendship

“…For some of them, the assemblies are the first space where they hear such experiences from their classmates, becoming more aware of others' sufferings and promoting empathy towards them. Therefore, not only do students practice solidarity through the DMPRC, as Villarejo-Carballido and colleagues [54] reported, but they also practice empathy.…”

“…Most students and teachers valued spaces such as the assemblies, where they discuss issues related to coexistence and how to improve it, very positively. Through an egalitarian dialogue, students share classroom and school issues or conflicts with each other in order to find solutions and prevent future conflicts, always oriented towards supporting the victims [54]. As one of the students pointed out, such dialogic spaces, where they respect each other's opinions and share them knowing that no one is going to be judged, enable students to trust each other more, strengthening the feeling of friendship among some of them.…”

“…It also involves other spaces for dialogue created with the aim of fostering spaces of zero violence and rejecting aggressive and violent attitudes [35]. In such dialogic spaces, students practice solidarity under the premise that everyone must help and support the victims while rejecting violent behaviors [54].…”

Implications for Social Impact of Dialogic Teaching and Learning

“…Promoting behaviors and relationships based on values such as solidarity, peer support, and friendship has also been found to reduce school conflict (Aubert, 2015;Villarejo-Carballido et al, 2019). In particular, the dialogic model of conflict prevention and resolution -a community-based educational interventionhas shown to be fostering solidarity networks among students facing school conflicts, creating safer learning environments in which conflicts such as bullying or cyberbullying are decreased (Villarejo-Carballido et al, 2019).…”

Fifteen-minute consultation: Keeping young school children safe online using the ‘SOCKS’ workshop

“…The key message is to talk to children regularly about their experience of the online world and be available to listen to them in a non-judgemental way. Having this type of dialogue with a trusted adult is thought to be an important protective factor against cyberbullying9. This also allows for greater understanding on all sides—children learn how to keep safe online, blocking cyberbullies and reporting harmful content and adults have a greater understanding of experiences children are having online.…”