Online attacks on teachers versus strategies to address cyberbullying and cyberaggression in the school ecosystem

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present ways of resolving the situations related to cyberbullying and cyberaggression that occur in Polish schools. The research fills a gap (taboo subject) in the means of solving crisis situations related to attacks on teachers that occur online. The qualitative research (online interviews) conducted in Poland at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 involved teachers who had been attacked by students and/or parents because of their profession. On the basis of the analysis and categorization (in the grounded theory stream), nine strategies were identified: educational and preventive actions targeted at students; working with the student’s family; removal of harmful content from the Internet; independent action by teachers; notifying the police; involvement of judicial authorities; individual consequences for the student; a combination of these different forms; and no response to the cyber-attack. The research was carried out as part of the digitally safer teacher project and is characterized by a praxeological dimension related to the special attention paid to the protection of teachers in cyberspace.