Strategies to counter and prevent the Online Hate Speech. A proposal for future teachers and educators

Issues around hate speech online have gained increasing prominence on the national and international debate (UNESCO, 2015; EC, 2016; IRPA, 2021) and attract public attention to develop possible action strategies to counter and prevent the phenomenon. The lack of educational strategies aimed at promoting a sense of responsibility, empathy, active listening, and respect emerges across the board. It stressed the importance of education in undermining the misconceptions and misinformation that form the basis of hate speech and of the need for such education to be directed to young people (ECRI, 2015). On this perspective, the paper describes the results of a pilot analysis on the topic of hate speech online carried out with future teachers and future educators within the didactic laboratory of the degree program in ‘Scienze della Formazione Primaria’ (LM-85 bis) and ‘Scienze dell’Educazione e Formazione’ (L19) at the University of Bari Aldo Moro. This analysis aims to investigate the perception of students about their awareness of virtual language habits, their knowledge of tools for reporting inappropriate content provided by social platforms, and more generally, their representations of hate speech online.