The Department of Education should look to rejuvenate the character agenda

The Department of Education have been granted a third round of Character Education Grants, as a quarter of young Brits have confessed to "bullying or insulting" someone online.


In 2015, former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said that he would attempt to "instil character and resilience in disaffected children", as part of the government's "core mission to deliver real social justice". ‘character-and-resilience'


Two years on, research from think-tank, Demos, has shown that the government needs to rejuvenate the agenda, and put digital citizenship at the heart of the new Digital Charter.


Demos' research has found that young people's character may be significant in determining the extent to which they engage in positive or negative behaviours online. 


The statistics have found that 26 per cent of 16/18 year olds who took part in the survey said that they had "bullied or insulted someone else" online. Furthermore, 93 per cent of these young people said that they had previously experienced some form of cyber-bullying or abuse.


Focus groups conducted by Demos found that young people are often drawn into cyber bullying because they are aware that their friends can see they are being bullied or insulted online, which leaves them compelled to respond in an aggressive way.


From their research, Demos has made recommendations to the government and schools. They have suggested that the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport should work with the National Citizen Service providers to promote civic virtues and moral thinking online.


Recommendations to schools included looking to deliver Digital Citizenship education, which contains a strong emphasis on the moral implications of online social networking, as well as looking to develop school - home links around digital citizenship, to support parents in developing effective mediation approaches.