International Cyber-Bullying Project

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a) General Aims: 

The goal of our project is to undertake a review of international law and policy responses to cyber-bullying. We seek to develop a set of guidelines that inform the policy vacuum towards development of consistent and sustainable global approaches to reduce cyber-bullying through proactive educational initiatives. Our ultimate objective is to ensure schools are supported by relevant stakeholders (government, parents, community youth organizations, and courts), as they attempt to balance student free expression with their rights to protection, privacy, free expression and equality in virtual and physical school environments.

b) Building on National Research: 

Our project builds upon preliminary findings in a Canadian study funded by SSHRC, by Dr. Shariff of McGill University as Principal Investigator, and Professor Colleen Sheppard of McGill as Collaborator (2005 – 2008). This Canadian Study is limited to researching the legal obligations of Canadian schools to address cyber-bullying in Quebec and British Columbia. Preliminary findings suggest that policy-makers in countries like New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Japan, United States and India are actively addressing cyber-bullying and cyber-libel. Moreover, Internet use in China is burgeoning as well as the Selected Countries. American and British courts hear more cases of cyber-bullying than Canadian courts. Since no funds are allocated in that project to expand the review to an international context, our unique team of international experts on education-law, criminology, technology and pedagogy  can facilitate and develop sustainable, shared knowledge about cyber-bullying, and provide valuable policy guidelines to schools, courts and government policy-makers globally.

c) Specific Objectives: 

The Canadian Study provides a strong foundation from which to implement four specific objectives:

Objective 1 – International Profile of Cyber-bullying (IPCB): Building on a profile developed in the Canadian Study, our team plans to review international scholarship on emerging forms, prevalence and impact of cyber-bullying, to develop an international profile (IPCB). The IPCB may differ among countries because of cultural and language differences.

Objective 2 - International Law Review and Legal Analysis (ILR): We propose to review and analyze emerging and established laws and jurisprudence on Internet harassment, cyber-bullying and cyber-libel in the 8 Selected Countries (including Canada, to expand upon existing research).

Objective 3 - Review and Critical Text Analysis of International Policy Responses and Initiatives (IPRI): We also plan to examine government and school policies from 5 schools in each of the 8 Selected Countries for a total of 40 schools; and, identify collaborative initiatives that support involvement by stakeholders (parents, ISP providers, cell-phone companies, law-enforcement officers). For example, New Zealand has implemented a network of stakeholders supported by government funding to address cyber-bullying in a comprehensive manner (Balfour, 2005 “NetSafe”). Consultations with NetSafe may provide valuable guidance for the development of similar networks in Canada and abroad.

Objective 4 - Develop International Policy Guidelines on Cyber-Bullying (IPGCB): Based on the IPCB; the ILR; and IPRI, we would develop a set of International Policy Guidelines on Cyber-Bullying (IPGCB) to guide schools and governments globally. The IPGCB would also be grounded in educational theories on social justice, critical pedagogy, critical thinking and digital literacies as informed by our team of international experts. This should set the groundwork for further research to develop pedagogical practices worldwide in partnership with PREVNet, that promote and sustain inclusive on-line discourse, reduce discrimination, protect students; foster welcoming school environments (physical and virtual), and ultimately, keep schools out of court.