The 10.5 million Children Affected by Migration (CAM) who are refugees, asylum seekers economic migrants, or children left behind by migrating parents/carers, are the most vulnerable children in Europe, threatened by the highest rates of cyber bullying, radicalization and on-line grooming. The partners have completed a ground breaking Erasmus + project Including Children Affected by Migration (ICAM) in schools which is being disseminated Europe wide by the three leading child welfare organizations in Europe, UNICEF ECA, Terre Des Hommes and Eurochild. Please see https://www.icamproject.eu. The project feedback identified a need to help CAM's internet usage and particularly the social media, on which CAM rely heavily, in ways that are both safe and responsible to the welfare of others. Consequently the successful ICAM programme will be further enhanced by the specific outcomes of the BeCSR project BeCSR focuses on CAM aged 8-13 at a critical age for learning to use the internet. The project develops their Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and increases their on-line media literacy so that they have the ability to protect themselves and other children and to make safe and responsible decisions when they are on-line; including in particular their avoidance of, and response to, cyber-bullying, radicalization and grooming - as victims or as bystanders. The internet is the most powerful aid for universal access to learning yet developed. Damage and harm caused by abuse and improper use of the internet is one of the biggest threats to vulnerable children that society faces. 50%+ of EU teens have been bullied online, and 50% have engaged in cyber bullying. UNHCR reports a rise in xenophobia, racism and racial attacks resulting from the recent increase in the migrant population in Europe. CAM are 2x as likely to be victims of cyberbullying and 3x more likely to suffer social exclusion on social media. Prevention policies and strategies to protect children and control internet usage are not enough SEL programmes are proven tools to address wellbeing issues such as reducing bullying in schools. SEL techniques have been developed by four of the partners in the Erasmus+ programme Action Anti-Bullying completed in 2016 and disseminated Europe wide Victims of cyberbullying suffer reduced learning capacity and lose all the benefits that on-line learning provides. In extreme circumstances the abuse leads to suicide. The rate of suicide among teenagers has increased in recent years to 9 per 100,000 average across Europe and is linked to the influence of social media. SEL is a process of acquiring social and emotional values, attitudes, competencies, knowledge and skills that are essential for learning, effectiveness, wellbeing and success in life. Although it can be taught, most SEL is assimilated and requires the appropriate climate in school and in the home for SEL to flourish. Consequently the SEL improvement for CAM will be achieved alongside the improvement to the climate of convivencia ( living in harmony) in schools and in the home. The project includes an essential parent/carer education programme An internet trawl uncovered no other programmes designed to improves children’s SEL for internet usage Our aim is to create the school and home environment of convivencia and improved SEL so that children know and understand better how to make decisions about their safe and responsible behaviour on the internet leading to lifelong learning behaviour in harmony with others in the world around them. BeCSR objectives are to develop CAM’s SEL and on-line media literacy by applying cascaded, effective training programmes which equip their school leaders, staff and parents/carers with the knowledge and skills for teaching children to make safe and responsible choices about their own behaviour when on-line. Specific objectives are listed in the sections below. The transnational approach of ICAM and now of BeCSR enables the partners to combine expert knowledge from the UK ,Spain Italy, Romania and EU (through OEC ) with the international reach of Associates UNICEF Terre des Hommes and Eurochild to develop approaches which will truly help reduce the damage to CAM and promote the positive benefits of safe and responsible internet usage for all children in Europe. The partners' Open Education Community and the international associates give the project the widest possible access to organisations Europe wide with a remit to support CAM and they also have the contacts to influence government policy. Trials in 10 schools from 1 county in 4 countries = 40 schools provide country specific models for county by county upscaling for national application of the BeCSR project The structured dissemination of this project has the potential to not only reach all CAM in Europe but also to provide a model to help schools and parents/carers improve the safe and responsible use of the internet by and for ALL CHILDREN
• Produce a literature review and collect good practice in the practical support for CAM's safe and responsible internet usage • Develop ICAM team-supported training and materials for use in training BeCSR National Facilitators • Develop National Facilitator supported cascaded programmes for training BeCSR School Leaders • Provide on-line training for whole school convivencia (living in harmony) and CAM SEL for use by School BeCSR leaders with school staff and parents • Provide learning and teaching materials for the development of SEL for safe and responsible behaviour and on-line media literacy • Develop CAM’s SEL , media literacy and ability to make sensible / safe decisions when on-line at home, at school or with peers • Enable CAM to help others by recognising, understanding and preventing cyberbullying, online harassment and immoral behaviour and knowing what to do when they encounter it • Evaluate the project and improve it as a result of trials • Disseminate the project widely through the associate partners both in the partner countries and Europe wide via OEF UNHCR, TdH and Eurochild • NEW OBJECTIVES 2022 - Adapt materials and disseminate to assist: Covid19 separation from learning Ukraine displaced children
Children Affected by Migration (CAM) who are refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, or children left behind by migrating parents/carers are the most vulnerable children in Europe. The Including Children Affected by Migration (ICAM) project partners identified a need to help CAM's internet usage and particularly social media, on which CAM rely heavily, in ways that are both safe for them and responsible to the welfare of others Extending the successful ICAM programme, BeCSR focuses on CAM aged 8-13 - a critical age for learning to use the internet. Through cascaded training programmes for school leaders staff and parents the project develops their Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and increases CAM's on-line media literacy so that they have the ability to protect themselves and other children and to make safe and responsible decisions when on-line; including their avoidance of, and response to, cyberbullying, radicalization and grooming - as victims or as bystanders. Safe internet training is not enough BEYOND THE ORIGINAL OBJECTIVES COVID-19 AND 3.5 MILLION DISPLACED UKRAINIAN CHILDREN INCREASED THE NEED FOR BeCSR WHICH WAS TWICE URGENTLY ADAPTED AND NOW FORMS PART OF OFFICIAL EU GUIDANCE FOR ALL EUROPEAN SCHOOLS