Facebook Funds Anti-Bullying Training

Facebook is paying to train British schoolchildren as “digital safety ambassadors.” They’ll help their peers deal with online bullying and similar issues.

The company has offered £1 million (approximately US $1.33 million) in total funding for the United Kingdom’s 4,500 schools. The recipients will be trained through two schemes already run by charities. One, The Diana Award, trains children as “anti-bullying ambassadors” while the other, Childnet International, offers a similar service but uses the term “digital leaders.”

In both cases, the training is based on research that suggests children experiencing online problems such as bullying are more likely to seek help from schoolmates than from parents or teachers. That’s partly because the children don’t want to worry adults and partly because they believe other children are more likely to have experienced similar problems.

The training is designed to help children help others in two ways: the technical specifics of how to report, filter and block unsuitable or concerning material and communications, and the psychological and social elements of speaking out and not allowing cyberbullying to go unchecked.


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