A group of students at the City of Bath College have been thanked for their help in stepping up the battle against cyberbullies.
More than 30 Level 3 IT students have helped to shape future policies against cyberbullying by collating questionnaire results from thousands of school children.
Their efforts are expected to have ‘a massive impact’ on combatting the problem and students have been personally thanked by the High Sheriff of Somerset Richard Lloyd.
They collated the responses to questions in the biggest survey into cyberbullying ever conducted among school children in Bath and North East Somerset.
It took more than 500 hours for the students to go through the 4,500 questionnaires, which had 42 questions filled in by 11 to 16 year-olds from seven schools.
Simon Selby, the senior researcher for the cyberbullying project, said: “The magnitude of impact students will make is massive. The students were absolutely fundamental in making this survey happen.
“Cyberbullying is a huge problem, it’s horrendous. Not a month goes by when you don’t hear about someone committing suicide because they’ve been cyberbullied.
“It’s a cowardly, faceless and deceitful way of bullying and this project should help to change that.”
The three teams of IT students collated the questionnaire data as part of their lessons and also in their free time.
The project also resulted in the students talking amongst themselves about the extent of the problem and their own experiences.
Level 3 IT student Mark Townsend said: “It was enjoyable to be part of something so big and important.
“Cyberbullying is a huge problem and it’s nice to know we are helping other young people and could even stop someone being bullied.”
The questionnaire was filled in by children at St Marks, Writhlington, Hayesfield, Bath Community Academy, Norton Hill, Somervale and Monkton Combe.
Early results show that more than 50 per cent of 11 and 12 year olds across B&NES are regular users of Facebook and cyberbullying is more prevalent among girls than boys.
But the questionnaire’s full findings won’t be published until early next year when a pilot scheme to implement recommendations will also be launched in Bath and North East Somerset.
Simon said: “The results of this survey are going to be phenomenal; it has the potential to make a difference nationally as well as locally as it is so in-depth.
“It doesn’t just look at how often, it looks at the why and where. The findings will help us to come up with new ways to prevent cyberbullying.”
Simon is a former police officer who now co-ordinates Somerset Crimebeat. He believes the authorities don’t know how to deal with cyberbullying as they are still playing catch-up on the extent of the problem.
He said: “Most people haven’t got a clue how widespread the problem is and are having trouble keeping up with tech-savvy children. This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Simon thanked the students and said they should be really proud of their efforts. He said they could put on their CVs that they “played a part in the community” and “made a difference.”
Mr Lloyd presented each student with a thank you certificate and told them: “You really helped with this very important project and worked hard to disseminate the answers.
“I want to congratulate you all for persevering; it wasn’t an easy task to get the information into a usable format. Thanks for your involvement, keep up the good work.”
