3.2% of the 1,200 6th grade students in Lanzarote say they suffer aggressions very frequently, which can be considered cases of school bullying. 43% say they have experienced some type of aggression, physical or verbal, at some point, while 0.4% say they feel harassed "forever" and already in their previous school.
These are some of the conclusions of the third edition of the project "Bullying 1, 2, 3, action", an initiative promoted by the Education area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote whose main objective is to prevent bullying in schools on the island. The project has the collaboration of Caixabank which, through a financial contribution from the “la Caixa” Foundation, has contributed to cover 50% of the project.
Other data reflecting the conclusions of the project is that 5.8% say they have suffered aggressions since the beginning of this course, while 17% acknowledge having suffered aggressions in previous courses. For its part, 2.3% say they felt harassed in their previous school, and only 1.2% when they were in kindergarten. Similarly, 50% of students say they have seen aggressions in the playground. 33% point to the existence of some classmate who does not relate to anyone, as well as 32% say they have been exposed to isolated aggressions. Also, 10% acknowledge having assaulted someone, and 2.5% that they would return the aggression to whoever assaulted them in the past.
All these data have been collected through anonymous and individual questionnaires carried out on both students and teachers from 60 groups of 6th grade in Lanzarote, belonging to 22 schools, which represents 96% of schoolchildren of that level on the island. In total, more than 1,200 students have participated in this third edition of “Bullying 1, 2, 3, action”.
The field work has been carried out and coordinated by the pedagogue Cel Martín and the short film used for the practical experience and the questionnaires have been prepared by the Cultural and Artistic Association Actúa 7.
A short film with two endings instead of a play
Due to the situation generated by Covid-19, this year for the first time the development of the project was done online. In previous years, students attended the live performance of a play, and at the end of it intervened modifying the development and conclusion of the scenes, making contributions on the conflict that was raised.
In this third edition, first a previous individual and anonymous questionnaire was given to the students and teachers. This questionnaire allowed the theater company and the pedagogue to determine the characteristics of each group with which they were going to interact. Subsequently, a short film prepared by the Cultural and Artistic Association Actúa 7, specifically directed to each group, was screened. The short film had two alternative endings, which allowed students to better understand the possible consequences of the problem raised.
Then a new questionnaire was carried out to make an attitudinal comparison against harassment and bullying cases. Finally, and as a conclusion, a pedagogical report was made and presented to each school.
The Councilor for Education of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Paula Corujo, has expressed her satisfaction with the development of this program to prevent workplace harassment in schools. “In the Education area we are very pleased to have been able to carry out this project for the third consecutive year, with the novelty that it has been possible to do it online through a short film instead of a play. But that gives us the advantage that this audiovisual material will be available to schools, so they can use it when they need it. The objective is none other than to contribute to prevent this type of situations in schools. We must promote coexistence among schoolchildren and correct bullying behaviors, to see if we can all make them disappear from the classrooms”, said Paula Corujo.
For her part, the director of the CaixaBank Business area in Lanzarote, Pilar Ramos Gutiérrez, said that CaixaBank, through a financial contribution from the “la Caixa” Foundation, is “delighted to be involved in such a beautiful and exciting project as this one". "Our entity has a presence in all the municipalities of the island, and our participation in this project demonstrates the degree of commitment of the entity with Lanzarote”, she said.
