Hate speech has become an everyday occurrence in the Bulgarian society and even the youngest children are affected by this undesired development. This is a conclusion shared by over 20 experts from various state institutions and non-governmental sector, who participated on a round table, organized by the Applied Research and Communications Fund on April 25.
The ARC Fund team presented a new methodology, developed in a close cooperation with a group of primary school teachers. The methodology utilizes an interactive approach to strengthen the children’s sensitivity regarding the hate speech and its possible consequences: discrimination, bullying and violence. The round table marked the successful conclusion of the 30-month long work on the project “Children, teachers and parents against hate speech and discrimination,” co-financed by EEA Grants and the Support Programme for NGOs in Bulgaria.
Two major outputs of the project were presented on the round table – teacher’s handbook and workbook for pupils. Both publications are essential for the application of the methodology in schools. Some of the teachers (from Sofia and Stara Zagora), who participated in the development of the methodology and tested the lessons in their classes, shared their positive experiences and impressions. The dedicated and motivated teachers are indispensable for the successful work in the classroom. However, the in-class work is only one component of the methodology. The other two are the homework, which the children are expected to do together with their parents, and a school event with participation of teachers, children and parents.
The central part of the round table was the discussion of the main findings and policy recommendations included in the analytical report about the results from the piloting of the methodology. The main recommendations brought forth in the report are:
• Prevention of hate speech needs to be made a priority among the social and civic skills children learn in the first four grades of the primary school.
• Interactive methods should be applied more widely, including a more active involvement of parents in development and consolidation of social and civic skills of children.
• Digital skills, including critical thinking and media literacy, should be introduced into a wider circle of subjects relating to the development of social and civic competencies and emotional intelligence, and should not be confined only to subjects dealing with information technologies.
Several experts shared the opinion that the recommendations should be formulated in a more direct and imperative language, because hate speech and hate crimes have become commonplace in the Bulgarian society. Most worryingly, they affect even the youngest children.
You can learn more about the project “Children, teachers and parents against hate speech and discrimination” here.
