Cyber bullying in institutes with new subject of Digital Culture

Valencia will teach about cyber bullying in institutes with the new subject Digital Culture. The Ministry of Education is finalizing the curriculum, with the advice of the Police, to offer it as an optional in English next year.

From the age of 12 and 13, most students already have their own cell phone. It is proof of the use of new technologies among children and adolescents that facilitates communication and the flow of information but also generates new problems , such as cyberbullying, manipulation through the propagation of false news or the theft of personal data . For all this, the Ministry of Education of the Valencian Govt. will offer the next course in the institutes a new optional subject, Digital Education.

It will be taught in English and will be offered in all ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) courses, although it is specially recommended for the first two. The Ministry is finalizing the curriculum of the new subject that will be in charge of the teachers who teach English today. If necessary and depending on demand, the workforce would be increased, they point out from the department. In addition, teachers of other subjects, such as Technology or Information Technology, may collaborate.

"90% of the kids in the first two courses already have mobiles, but not all of them have all the basic tools for their good use," said the Ministry. This new curriculum proposal also seeks to increase the percentage of English in Secondary within the establishment of the multilingual system (in which it must reach at least 25%) implemented by the Govt, governed by the PSOE, Compromís and Podem. It will be offered in the interdisciplinary project teaching space.

"It is important to promote this innovative matter of knowledge, unique in the State, because we live in a digital world in which technologies have modified the way we interact and communicate, to access new professional opportunities and, of course, to train professionally" , underline from the educational administration, directed by Vicent Marzà, from Compromís.

It will be a subject that will also deepen, especially, in the "conscious, safe and responsible use of social networks by students and in the prevention of addictive behaviors in their use". It will also be a work space to develop capacities for the future of the world of work in the digital age, as well as learning to detect false content.

"My two 12-year-old daughters already have a cell phone," explains Isabel María A. Soler, mother and lawyer. "We bought it for them to be connected because they spend many hours away from home, with extracurricular activities. But I don't know if it was a mistake. The parents have won in peace of mind and they have become too hooked: they are watching the cell phone all day, that if YouTube and Instagram, that if messages with their friends ... We have decided to limit them much more the use of the mobile. It is true that they know how to quickly find information on the Internet with the mobile or on the computer, but it is a bit scary to see how the screens can be addictive, "he adds. The teaching of the Digital Culture course seems timely and asks that it be abundant in the responsible use of the mobile.

Since much of the content of this new subject has a direct relationship with the proliferation of information from a global world in which the use of English is predominant, Education is preparing this subject to be taught in this language and deepen another of educational purposes: to ensure contact with English by students in a naturalized way due to the large proliferation of English content in digital environments. Visit our main blog for more content.

For the elaboration of the contents it is counting on the collaboration of an expert investigation team in transmedia contents and digital identity, as well as the advice of experts of the National Police in topics related to cyber bullying and technological crimes, concludes the Ministry it's a statement.