School bullying often does not initially manifest as physical aggression, but rather through comments that, while seemingly harmless, can have a profound impact on young people's self-esteem. This is the view of a teacher from an educational center in Barcelona, who emphasizes the importance of recognizing and addressing these verbal expressions that can escalate into bullying situations.
The lack of boundaries in jokes and normalized comments among students is a key factor in the emergence of bullying cases. These comments, often inspired by social media content, include racist, homophobic, or sexist expressions that foster stigma. The teacher points out that there is little awareness of the power of words and their consequences.
“"The most visible violence is physical aggression, but the hurtful comments, especially those aimed at self-esteem, are not addressed as much."
These types of comments are especially frequent in spaces such as playgrounds or during class changes, where students feel more free and impulsive. Therefore, it is essential to work on values such as respect and assertive communication before a case of bullying becomes entrenched. The goal is for students to understand that their way of communicating has a direct impact on others.
In a context where almost two students per class experience bullying, according to data from a foundation and a university, the teacher is part of the Somos Únic@s program, which began in the 2022-2023 academic year and reached secondary education in the 2025-2026 academic year. This program seeks to raise awareness and train students in bullying prevention, and the teacher's educational center is one of the 102 Catalan schools participating, with a total of 8,524 students.
The program addresses concepts such as self-esteem, peer pressure, and fear through group dynamics and educational materials, encouraging students to express themselves and report cases of bullying. The teacher highlights that prevention allows addressing not only bullying but also conflict resolution in the classroom, although she acknowledges greater difficulty in managing the current influences on adolescents, such as the creation of anonymous social media accounts for offensive comments.
“"Many times they feel that if they tell teachers things, it's because they are tattletales. We try to make them understand that when you tell something, it's to ask for help."
Despite the challenges posed by new digital dynamics, the teacher perceives greater awareness of bullying, which facilitates more reporting of cases. At a time of tension in the education sector, with the announcement of plainclothes police deployment in some centers, the teacher reflects on the suitability of authority figures and recalls previous initiatives such as the COCOBE figure, designed to promote emotional well-being and coexistence.
