Online racism: Primary

Overview

Audience

Primary (ages 7 to 11)

Timing

60 minutes

Learning outcomes

Learners will be able to:

• identify the ways that racism may occur online
• recognise the impact that online racism can have on individuals and communities
• understand the differences between safe and unsafe strategies to challenge online racism
• know how and where to seek help and support if they or someone they know are the victim of online racism

Key vocabulary

Discrimination, protected characteristics, stereotypes, racism, racist, hate speech, hate crime, abuse

Resources

Preparation

• Read through the ‘Educational practitioner learning resource’ on online racism to ensure you have a clear understanding of possible issues and questions that may emerge in the lesson. Ensure you are familiar with your school’s safeguarding procedures in the event of a disclosure.
• Print slide handouts for slides 8 to 14 for small groups to work through (optional).
• Print the response cards on slide 16 – one set per learner/pair/group.

Curriculum links

This resource can support activities delivered as part of the Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience.

Key questions (to use as discussion starters or prompts)

• Are all people treated the same offline? Why/why not?
• Are all people treated the same online? Why/why not?
• What is discrimination? What is racism?
• What are protected characteristics?
• What is a stereotype?
• How might people feel if they are mistreated or abused online because of their race?
• How might someone mistreat another person online based purely on their race?
• What positive things can you do to respond to online racism?
• How can you get help for you or someone else if you are worried about online racism?

Starter activity (10 mins)

Using the PowerPoint slides that accompany this lesson plan, start by asking learners the following questions.

• Are all people treated the same offline? Why/why not?
• Are all people treated the same online? Why/why not?

Encourage learners to give reasons as to why they think people are treated differently. They may respond with reasons related specifically to a person’s behaviour (for example a politician saying something solely to provoke a reaction), status (for example celebrities and influencers are treated differently to people without fame online and offline) or characteristics (for example women are treated differently to men, and children are treated differently to adults).

Explain that, both online and offline, there are many situations where one person may be treated differently to another. Some of these situations are considered to be fair or acceptable, others are not.

Explain that discrimination is where people treat others in an unacceptable way because of their differences. Ask learners if they can think of any types of discrimination, or reasons why a person or group of people may be treated negatively. Learners may respond with specific concepts such as racism, sexism or homophobia, or with answers that identify specific characteristics.

Explain that discrimination is often based on characteristics of a person or group that they cannot control or change (for example skin colour, race, age, disability, gender, sexual identity). These are known as protected characteristics – aspects of a person’s identity that are protected under law. Discriminating against someone based on these characteristics can break the law.

One form of discrimination that occurs both online and offline is racism. Show learners the example on slide 6 of how racism may occur online.

Ask learners to consider the following questions.

• Who was this message targeting?
• Who do you think sent it?
• Why do you think someone chose to say this online?
• How would it make the person reading it feel?
• What do you think might have happened next?

Discuss the questions together as a class. Be aware that learners may also talk about their own personal experiences of online/offline racism (as a target, bystander or possibly even as a perpetrator). In the event of a disclosure, follow your school’s safeguarding procedures to log and report this incident.

Activity 1: Okay or not okay? (20 mins)

Using slides 7 to 14, explain to learners that they will see different examples of online messages and content. For each, they must decide if it is ‘okay’ (not racist) or ‘not okay’ (racist) to behave this way online.

You can choose to run this activity as a whole class, looking at each example in turn and asking learners to give a thumbs up (okay) or thumbs down (not okay) and discuss their reasons. Alternatively, you may wish to print out the slide handout (by selecting ‘Handout’ in the print settings) to give to small groups to work through, and record their answers on the sheets. Groups can then feed back their answers in a whole class discussion.

Note that there are some examples that are deliberately ambiguous. Encourage learners to consider what else they might need to know in order to make a decision about whether the content is okay or not okay.

For older learners, you may also wish to highlight that if a person repeatedly makes comments about a group of people then this could be considered xenophobic (hatred/discrimination on the basis of national origin).

Activity 2: Staying safe and getting help (20 mins)

Having established as a class which examples show racist behaviour online, choose one of these examples to return to.

Ask learners to imagine they witnessed this behaviour online. What could they do to help the person/people being targeted by this unacceptable behaviour?

Slide 16 contains response cards that can be printed and given to each learner/group. Ask learners to select one card to show what they would do in that situation.

Get feedback from learners and discuss the choices they made. Ask them to consider what might happen next – would the situation improve or worsen? Would their choice put them at any risk? Remind learners that it is important to help those in need online, but they must also ensure that they do not put themselves at risk of harm as a result.

If time permits, ask learners to select their top three response cards that they feel would work best across different scenarios.

Plenary (10 mins)

Explain to learners that it is very hard to stop someone from mistreating others, particularly if someone is spreading online hate like racism or xenophobia. However, it is important to take positive action to help yourself or others in need.

Show learners the ‘Give Me Five!’ on slide 17, and ask them to think of 5 people (or organisations) they could turn to for help if they were worried about the way they or someone else was being treated online. If time permits, learners could draw around their hand on a sheet of paper and write the names of those 5 people on each of the digits. This could form a useful classroom display to remind them who they can turn to for help with online issues such as racism.

The final slide includes details of organisations who can offer help and support to children experiencing issues online. You may also wish to add details of the key adults in your school who learners can turn to, for example the designated safeguarding person (DSP).

Opportunities to extend the learning

Sharing top tips

Encourage learners to create a resource (for example a poster, quiz, leaflet, infographic, blog, video clip or drama piece) that raises awareness and advises their peers on safe strategies for responding to online racism.

Exploring other forms of online hate

This lesson can be used as a springboard to explore other forms of online hate against protected characteristics, such as gender (and gender identity), sexual identity and disability. You can access follow-up sessions from the Victim Support training and engagement team that cover a wide range of topics.