How to work on hate speech with teenagers

One of the main keys to a critical education with hate speech is to promote sensitivity towards these issues among adolescents and teachers or a team of monitors and monitors. It will be necessary to organize trainings for the structural team that address these issues and how to deal with them with the youth. At the same time, we will try to apply the intercultural perspective in the different activities that promote mutual respect.

It will also be necessary to make it clear to the students that the school or institution is a safe space where any discriminatory action will be dealt with openly , whether this is carried out in the institution, outside, or only experienced on the networks.

This awareness will have to be addressed from the curriculum or programming of the activities . First, it will be about incorporating diverse perspectives and cultural experiences from different origins, making positive references visible for all people , also for migrant and rationalized students, ensuring that everyone feels properly represented in the content worked on. This is especially important in the teenage years, when people need referents with whom they feel identified.

It will also be important to develop specific educational tools , especially prepared for the environment in which the entity or school is located, to address issues such as racism, diversity or mutual respect. It would be interesting to help here with games, participatory activities and multimedia tools. 

Both in the activities and in the day-to-day life of the organization or school, it is important to promote open and respectful dialogue , where all people have a voice and interact in positive ways. In this sense it is important to organize activities and events that promote and guarantee the active participation of all people . To work on equality and inclusion as thematic axes, the first thing is to practice them within the organization or school.

In relation to this, it is important to include in the program of activities some spaces for reflection to talk about the aforementioned topics, such as racism, discrimination and safe ways to use social networks, places where teenagers can express yourself without fear and become aware of these issues.

Whether the discrimination occurs in the school or organization or outside, or even if the girls or teenagers have only seen it through networks and have not been directly involved, it is important to have clear action protocols and effective to address them . If they have been carried out by the students, the protocols must incorporate support for the victims and take a constructive and educational approach to the subject, dealing with it also and above all with the perpetrator.

The work done at school or in the institution must have a continuity outside , and also work at home. Families must participate in the tasks of raising awareness about diversity and respect. That is why it will be advisable to provide guidance and resources to families so that they can do this support in the education in understanding and fight against hatred of their daughters and sons.

At the end of the day, it's all about coming together and doing a collective and continuous implementation , so that teenagers develop critical perspectives on the discourses that exist on social networks and become active agents in the promotion of equality, interculturality and understanding.