Register for a free online course on addressing bullying as a parent!
To mark UNESCO’s International Day against Violence and Bullying at School, COFACE Families Europe and KMOP are pleased to launch a free e-learning course on what every parent needs to know about bullying, to support parents and carers of school-aged children. Register and learn about essential knowledge and communication strategies to help recognise, prevent, and address both school-based and online bullying.
Are you a parent/guardian, or a professional working alongside parents of school-aged children?
Through this new e-learning course, discover how to spot bullying, support your child’s growth, and respond effectively at home and with school. This is an introductory course and requires no prior knowledge of bullying. It is useful for parents and carers who wish to better understand bullying, and how to deal with and prevent it among their children.
What will you achieve by taking the course?
By the end of the course, as a parent/guardian, you will be able to:
- Identify and define bullying, understand its seriousness and possible motivations, recognise warning signs, and appreciate the importance of parental support;
- Boost your child’s self-esteem, set healthy boundaries, and understand their role and responsibilities as bystanders to bullying;
- Respond and seek solutions if you discover that your own child is engaging in bullying behaviour;
- Respond appropriately when you first learn your child is involved in bullying, how to start safe and open conversations, avoid common parental mistakes, and encourage your child to actively participate in problem-solving and exploring solutions;
- Develop clear and realistic expectations about how schools handle bullying, and how to build effective cooperation with school staff.
Empower yourself to recognise and prevent bullying to better support your child
This new e-learning course focuses on bullying prevention and management from a parent’s perspective, providing them with tools to recognise, prevent, and respond to bullying by supporting their child’s emotional development, fostering open communication, addressing harmful behaviours, and working effectively with schools to create a safer environment for all children.
About the course
- Course duration: Approximately 1 hour. You can take the course at your preferred time and your own pace.
- Learning approach: Create your own learning journey by browsing through the videos in any order you choose.
- How does it work? The course is 100% online.
- Language: The course is available in English and Greek.
- Free: The course is free of charge and is available on the KMOP Education Hub.
Your learning, your pace
The course is split into five modules, each consisting of one video. The videos will provide you with information and engaging practical scenarios.
Who developed the course?
The course was developed by Dr. Antonia Torrens, General Manager of KMOP and President of COFACE Families Europe. She is an educational psychologist with many years of proven experience in the field of prevention and intervention of violent and intimidating behaviour in children and young people. It is part of the European education programme L.I.N.K. (Learning and Innovating through New Knowledge), a joint initiative of KMOP’s Education Hub and COFACE Families Europe. L.I.N.K. educational methods and content of the courses are based on values of human rights, non-discrimination, gender equality, social inclusion, diversity, empowerment, and intergenerational solidarity, and are designed to address important challenges that modern societies face.
Bullying and its impact on communities
School bullying and violence is a worldwide worrisome phenomenon that occurs within a broad context, where it becomes very difficult for educators and pupils to control violent behaviour in school environments. Violence in educational settings is a daily reality that deprives millions of children and young people of their right to education and free expression of their identities without any discrimination. According to an estimation by Plan International, 246 million children and adolescents experience violence in and around school every year. Girls are disproportionately affected compared to boys, as well as those children who do not conform to prevailing societal norms.
A UNESCO report from 2017 showed that school violence and bullying are often invisible to parents. Indeed, according to a 2016 UN report , children who are victims of cyberbullying, in particular, are not always willing to report these incidents for fear of retaliation, such as losing access to their computer, mobile phone or the internet.
The UNESCO report mentions a few key actions to help tackle this, including:
- Promoting awareness of violence against children and the negative impact of school violence and bullying among parents, among others;
- Working in partnership with parents to secure their support for measures to prevent and respond to school violence and bullying.
In both cases, it seems essential to ensure that parents and carers of school-aged children are well informed about bullying and equipped with tools and preventative measures to support their children, whether they are victims or perpetrators of bullying.
If you are a parent or a guardian, register here to take the course.
If you are a teacher or a professional, tell parents in your community about the course!
For further information, please contact Zoé Lardou, COFACE Education programme coordinator. [email protected]