To view this lesson, you must be in year 7 and above

Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Depiction or discussion of peer pressure or bullying

Adult supervision recommended

Hi, I'm Ms. Lowe, and I'm your RSHE teacher for today.

Thank you so much for choosing to complete your learning with me.

Now because some of the themes and topics covered in today's lesson, it's really important that you complete today's learning with the company of an adult.

So here is our outcome for today's lesson, and by the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to explain what online bullying is.

Every RSHE lesson should begin with a set of ground rules.

This ensures that every conversation had in RSHE is respectful, and we're all able to learn effectively.

So Laura is reminding us that in RSHE, we should listen to others.

It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

And when disagreeing, we challenge the statement and not the person.

Andeep is reminding us to respect privacy.

We can discuss examples, but we don't use names or descriptions that can identify anyone, including ourselves.

Izzy is reminding us to choose a level of participation that suits us.

Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or to join in a discussion, but we never put anyone on the spot.

And finally, Jacob is reminding us that in RSHE, there is no judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic, without the fear of being judged.

Now let's have a look at the key words for today's lesson, and we'll go through the definitions together.

Discrimination.

When people are treated unfairly or differently because of the things, like their race, gender, or beliefs.

Harassment.

When someone repeatedly bothers, bullies, or disturbs another person, making them feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or upset.

Humiliation.

Making someone feel embarrassed, ashamed, or unimportant.

Exclusion.

Being purposefully left out of a group.

And impersonation.

Pretending to be another person.

So here is the outline for today's lesson, and we are gonna begin by asking the question, what is online bullying? Now bullying can take many forms. Sometimes someone can experience just bullying that happens in person, whereas others may just experience online bullying.

But often these two scenarios are not exclusive of each other, and people can experience bullying online and in person.

When we talk about online bullying, you may have heard it referred to as cyberbullying.

So this is where someone uses online platforms, things like social media or messaging apps, to harm or intimidate another person.

And it's really important to remember that cyberbullying can happen anywhere online.

Just because bullying occurs online, it doesn't mean that a victim does not feel harm.

Some people might think, well, if the bullying is occurring online, that doesn't really affect them in real life.

But that's not true.

Online bullying is just as harmful as in-person bullying, and the effects that a person feels as a result of online bullying can be just as harmful, and are very similar to in-person bullying.

Just like in-person bullying, online bullying is often linked to discrimination.

And Sofia is explaining this here.

She's saying that this means that the person is focusing their bullying on the way a victim looks or who they are.

Now we're gonna check our understanding, and what I'd like for you to do is I'd like for you to change one word in the sentence below to make this statement correct.

"Online bullying is not as harmful as in-person bullying." So have a read of that sentence one more time, have a think about which word could be changed to make the statement correct, and then we'll go through the correct answer together.

Well done if you said "not".

So the correct sentence is, "Online bullying is just as harmful as in-person bullying." Well done again, if you got that correct.

So online bullying or cyberbullying is often aimed at similar things.

Online bullying is often aimed at a person's lifestyle choices, their financial situation or wealth, or their protected characteristics.

And we're gonna have a look at what we mean by protected characteristics now.

So bullying, which we said can be linked to discrimination, could be about any of the nine protected characteristics which are set out in the Equality Act.

And these nine protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Now we're gonna check our understanding again.

I would like for you to fill in the gap to complete the sentence on the screen.

Online bullying is often linked to "blank".

This means the bullying relates to what the person looks like or who they are as a person.

So pause the video, have a think about which word might be missing from this sentence, and then we'll go through the correct answer together.

Well done if you said discrimination.

Yes, we said that online bullying is often linked to discrimination, which means it is aimed at how a person looks or who they are as a person.

And we said it is linked to those nine protected characteristics.

So online bullying can appear in many different forms. Some examples of the way that online bullying can appear is through threats, harassment, humiliation, cyber-stalking, exclusion, and impersonation.

Let's begin by having a look at threats.

So cyberbullying can take place in the form of sending threatening messages or making threatening comments.

So Izzy is telling us here that even though these comments are made in online spaces, it can still make the person receiving these threats online feel scared or concerned for their safety in the real world.

Harassment.

So what harassment is, is it's a repetitive form of behaviour, and its intention is to intimidate somebody or to make them feel scared or upset.

This could include repeatedly sending lots and lots of messages or images to somebody online.

So Izzy is explaining this a bit more here as well.

She says that these messages and images don't have to be aggressive.

They don't have to be threatening for them to count as harassment.

All that it needs to do is make the person feel scared or worried for it to count as harassment.

Humiliation.

So this is where an online bully tries to make someone feel embarrassed, ashamed, or unimportant.

Andeep is telling us that this is often done by people sharing embarrassing pictures or videos of somebody without their consent, with the intention to humiliate them.

Cyberstalking.

So this involves constant, unwanted contact from someone online.

It could also include somebody continuously following another person's online activity with the intention to find out what they're doing, who they're with, et cetera.

As Lucas is saying here, cyberstalking can also appear through hacking.

So going into another person's online account and gathering their personal and private information.

And then we have exclusion.

So this is not including someone in something when the intention behind it is to make someone else feel bad.

People may use online services to purposefully exclude others and make them feel left out and isolated.

Jun is telling us here that exclusion often takes place in group chats or online games.

Now we have impersonation.

So this is why someone pretends to be somebody else online.

This is either done by hacking someone else's online account and pretending to be them, posting things under the guise that they are this person, posting embarrassing or harmful things.

Or impersonation could also be setting up a fake profile that has the same aim.

And as Jun is telling us here, this again often takes place on social media.

Now we're gonna check our understanding again.

So what is missing from the list of types of bullying online? We have humiliation, exclusion, and threats.

What is missing from this list? I'd like you to pause the video, have a think about your answer, and then we'll go through the correct one together.

Well done if you said harassment, cyberstalking, and impersonation.

If someone experiences online bullying, there are some things that they should do.

So firstly, it's important to tell a trusted adult, someone like a parent, a teacher, or a member of school staff who can help them.

Next, you should keep a record of everything that's happened, writing down or even taking screenshots of the messages, posts, or comments that they've received, and making sure to include the dates and times of the incidents.

If we experience online bullying, we should always block and report the account responsible.

You can use a platform's reporting tools to report the account, and then block the account.

And finally, you can get further help if needed.

If the bullying is serious or it's making you feel unsafe, you can talk to a trusted adult to decide whether or not this should be reported to the police.

One, or two things, sorry, that somebody should not do if they experience online bullying is responding to the bully and retaliating.

Online bullies often want to get a response from the person they're targeting.

So that means that messaging them back or retaliating with another nasty comment can actually continue that cycle of harm, and even more so, it encourages the bully to continue with their bullying behaviour.

So important to remember, never respond or retaliate if you experience online bullying.

Now, online bullying can actually become a crime.

It can become unlawful behaviour if the online bullying makes the person feel scared or worried for their safety.

Now, even if online bullying does not count as criminal behaviour under the law, the impact of online bullying is still really serious.

Now, Police Officer Paula is gonna tell us a bit about the law relating to online bullying.

So there is no exact legal definition of online bullying, but it can be prosecuted under a number of UK laws, including the Malicious Communications Act from 1988, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the Communications Act 2003, and the Defamation Act 2013.

So there are lots of laws in place that can protect people from online bullying.

Now being found guilty of an offence relating to online bullying under any of these laws could result in the following consequences.

It could result in a fine or a prison sentence.

So as you can see, online bullying is treated as quite a serious offence, because it is a serious offence to make another person concerned for their safety through online bullying.

If you are a recipient of online bullying, or you witness it, you can report it to the police by calling 101.

Now we're gonna check our understanding again.

There is no law about online bullying, so it isn't a crime.

Is that true or false? I'd like you to pause the video here, have a think about your answer, and then we'll go through the correct one together.

Well done if you said false.

But why is this false? Well, although there is no exact legal definition of online bullying, it can still be prosecuted under a number of laws, such as the Defamation Act of 2013.

And this can be done if it makes the victim feel scared or concerned for their safety.

So well done again, if you said that that statement was false.

Now we are gonna put our learning into practise.

So with your learning partner, I would like for you to discuss the following question.

What is online bullying? In those conversations that you have, I'd like you to consider the following things.

A definition of online bullying, the different forms that online bullying can take, the law around online bullying, and finally, what to do if you experience or witness online bullying.

So pause the video, have those conversations, and then we'll look at some things that you might have said in just a moment.

Okay, great work.

Now let's have a think about what you and your learning partner might have discussed.

So you might have said that online bullying is the use of online spaces to harm or intimidate someone.

Online bullying can take the form of threats, harassment, humiliation, cyberstalking, exclusion, or impersonation.

There is no exact legal definition of online bullying, but if cyberbullying makes someone feel scared or intimidated, this behaviour can be considered unlawful under several different laws, such as the Protection from Harassment Act and the Communications Act.

If someone is found guilty of an offence relating to online bullying, they could face a fine or imprisonment.

If you see or witness online bullying, you should block and report the bully and speak to a trusted adult.

You should never respond or retaliate.

Well done if you mentioned any of those things in your discussions.

Now we're moving on to the second part of our lesson where we are asking the question, why do some people choose to bully others online? Now, there are lots of different motivations behind why a person may choose to engage in bullying behaviours online.

People might choose to bully others online for reasons such as anonymity, feeling of power and control, insecurity, past trauma, or peer pressure.

Let's start by having a look at this idea of anonymity.

So some people might engage in bullying online even if they wouldn't do this in real life.

And this is because when people are online, they get this sense or this feeling of anonymity, and that their actions can't be traced back to them or that their actions don't really have consequences in the real world.

And Alex is reminding us here that this is not true.

Bullies can face serious consequences for threatening or harmful behaviour online.

So the consequences are real in the real world, and we know from our discussions before that the feeling that a victim can have as a result of online bullying can be very real as well.

Now, let's check our understanding.

People may bully online even if they wouldn't in real life, because they think that they are "blank" online.

So pause the video, have a look at those words on the list below, and decide which one will complete the sentence, and then we'll go through the correct answer together.

Well done if you said "anonymous".

People may bully online even if they wouldn't in real life because they think that they are anonymous online, they think that those consequences can't be traced back to them.

Now let's have a look at this idea of power and control.

So some people may bully others online in an attempt to feel power or control.

They might choose to exclude other people in a way to control who others speak to or interact with.

They may also humiliate others in a way to make a person feel unimportant and less than them.

Insecurity.

So people may choose to bully others online due to their own personal insecurities.

As Jacob is telling us here, people may humiliate or discriminate against someone based on the things that they themselves are self-conscious about.

Another reason people may choose to bully others online is past trauma.

People may feel angry, upset, or hurt, due to things that have happened in their lives, and want to make others feel the same, so what they do is they choose to bully others online.

As Andeep is saying here, this might make the bully wrongly feel that they're taking back some control of their emotions.

They may also feel that by making others feel bad, they can then in turn make themselves feel better.

However, if someone ever feels angry, upset, or hurt, trying to make others feel the same way will never make them feel better.

Feeling negative emotions, feeling angry or upset or hurt, are typical.

We're all gonna feel that way at some point in our lives.

And if you're concerned about the way that you feel, it's important to speak to a trusted adult or a medical professional.

It's never okay to take those feelings out on other people.

We're gonna once again here check our understanding about what we've just learned.

So I'd like for you to rewrite the following sentence so that it is correct.

The sentence currently says, "It is typical to feel negative emotions at some point in our lives, and therefore we should always try to make others feel the same so that we feel better." So pause the video, rewrite this sentence so that it's correct, and we'll go through what you might have written in a second.

Well done if you said that it is typical to feel negative emotions at some point in our lives, but we should never try to make others feel the same, as this won't make us feel better.

Another reason people might choose to engage in online bullying is peer pressure.

So people might bully others online if they are part of a group who are also engaging in those behaviours.

Being part of a group chat or an online space that has purposefully excluded another person is still engaging in bullying, even if you're not the one who created the group chat or who has chosen to purposely leave somebody out of a certain space.

By being a part of that group, you are still engaging in bullying.

People may also feel that they have to join in in harassing or discriminating against somebody else if their friends or others are doing it too.

Now, it's important to remember that it is never okay to bully another person, whether that is online or in person.

No matter how a person feels, no matter what their friends are doing, or what they're going through, making another person feel scared, humiliated, threatened, or excluded, is never acceptable.

Now let's check our understanding here about what we've just learned.

People may engage in online bullying if they feel insecure or upset themselves.

Pause the video, have a think about whether that statement is true or false, and we'll go through the right answer.

Well done if you said true.

Yes, one of the motivations behind online bullying is that they themselves feel insecure or upset, so they want to kind of take back some control of their emotions by making others feel the same way.

Now we're gonna put our learning into practise.

So you've got two tasks here.

The first one is to label the image with four reasons why someone might choose to bully others online.

Then I'd like for you to tell me why it is never okay to bully someone, and you're gonna explain your answer using two to three sentences.

So pause the video here, have a think about your answers to those two tasks, and then we'll go through what you might have written in a moment.

So well done at having a go at those tasks.

Let's begin by having a look at number one.

So you were asked to label the image with four reasons why a person might choose to bully others online.

So you might have said that they feel peer pressure to do so, that they feel that they're anonymous online and those consequences won't be traced back to them, they feel insecure or jealous themselves, they feel upset, angry, or sad, and want to make others feel the same way, and you might have said that they want to feel power or control.

Now let's look at task number two.

So you were asked why it is never okay to bully someone and to explain your answer in two to three sentences.

So you might have written that there are no circumstances when it is okay to bully someone, even if a bully feels angry or upset, or even if their friends are doing it, it is never acceptable.

Online bullying is just as harmful as in-person bullying, and it can have a significant negative impact on the victim.

Well done if you mentioned any of those things in your answers.

Now we're gonna look at a summary of what we've learned today to end the lesson.

So online bullying is the use of technology to discriminate against someone or cause harm to them.

Online bullying could be aimed at a person's lifestyle choices, their financial situation, or around their protected characteristics.

Online bullying can take lots of different forms, including threats, harassment, humiliation, cyberstalking, exclusion, or impersonation.

Although online bullying takes place on social media, messaging apps, or online gaming spaces, online bullying can actually happen anywhere, and it can be just as harmful as in-person bullying.

If you ever experience or even witness online bullying, you should tell a trusted adult and report and block the account.

Do not engage with the person.

Don't respond, and don't retaliate.

Now, if any of the things that we've covered together in today's lesson affect you or you have any concerns, here are some places you can go to access support.

First we have Childline, a website and phone line which is able to offer confidential advice and support.

CEOP, which helps protect children from online abuse and exploitation.

And finally, Internet Matters, which teaches children and parents how to stay safe and happy while using the internet.

And I'd like to end today's lesson by saying a big well done for all the fantastic work that we've done together today, and I look forward to seeing you in another RSHE lesson soon.