Conclusions

Participating in the course Preventing and Intervening in (Cyber)Bullying has been a truly enriching experience, both professionally and personally. As a teacher specialised in Community Services and a member of school orientation departments, the training has allowed me to deepen my understanding of how to address bullying and cyberbullying through a comprehensive and systemic lens—balancing both prevention and intervention.

One of the most valuable aspects of the course was its focus on emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and the importance of fostering a relational culture within the classroom. Practical tools such as restorative circles emphasized that prevention doesn’t begin with detecting problems but with creating safe, inclusive spaces that reduce the likelihood of bullying in the first place.

This perspective is particularly relevant to my role in implementing and monitoring school bullying protocols, where I am responsible for analyzing cases with a holistic approach. The course strengthened my capacity to support this work by shifting the focus from merely reacting to incidents to proactively building safer group dynamics.

The experience was also highly relevant to my responsibility for designing and delivering preventive interventions in classrooms. The wide array of classroom-ready strategies presented during the course can easily be incorporated into tutorial sessions, peer relationship activities, or school coexistence projects. They offer adaptable and engaging ways to work with students on recognising emotions, resolving conflict, and standing up as active bystanders.

Currently, I also work as an adviser at a teacher training centre, specialising in educational technology. From this perspective, the course offered meaningful input for one of our current priorities: digital wellbeing and promoting responsible technology use among teachers and students. In an increasingly hybrid educational landscape—where physical and digital experiences merge—it is crucial for educators to be able not only to identify online risks, but also to teach digital self-care, responsible communication, and ethical online behaviour.

Resources like the Cyberbullying Checklist or the parent communication guidelines from Webwise Ireland will be particularly useful in teacher training workshops, helping educators respond effectively to digital incidents and support families in a constructive way.

At the same time, I believe it's important to offer a critical reflection. One limitation of the course was the small group size—with only four participants, opportunities for exchanging diverse experiences were limited. Additionally, the group’s relatively low English level posed challenges for in-depth discussions and richer dialogue. While the facilitators were competent and supportive, I would have appreciated a deeper exploration of cyberbullying, given its complexity and the ongoing challenges it presents in daily teaching practice.

Despite these points, I leave the course with a strong sense of satisfaction. It has allowed me to take a step back, reflect critically on my professional role, and expand my toolbox with practical, well-grounded resources. Most importantly, it reinforced the idea that preventing and intervening in bullying is not only a legal duty but also an ethical and educational commitment—a shared responsibility rooted in care, empathy, and social justice.