Il bullismo nella scuola multietnica

[Autom. eng. transl.] The phenomenon of immigration from other states to Europe and, in particular, to Italy since the 1990s has led to a progressive increase in the presence of multi-ethnicity in the classes of Italian schools. Attending multi-ethnic schools has therefore become an increasingly common experience for children and teenagers. If, on the one hand, this increased diversity of classes offers important opportunities for cultural comparison, on the other it increases the challenges that teachers, professors and educators face in teaching (Fandrem, Strohmeier & Caravita, Stefanek, 2019, in press ). Among these challenges is the increase in ethnic bullying. Ethnic bullying is one of the six forms of discriminatory bullying identified by Russel and colleagues (Russell, Sinclair, Bau-man, Poteat, Koenig, 2012), a type of bullying that combines the main characteristics of traditional bullying with those of discrimination. The situations of discriminatory bullying, in fact, like traditional bullying are characterized by the intentionality and the systematic nature of the attacks perpetrated by the bully and by an imbalance of power existing between the bully and the victim, who is in a situation of greatest weakness and in difficulty in defending against abuses, due to personal characteristics (for example, greater shyness), physical (less physical strength) or, often, because isolated and marginalized by companions. The specificity of discriminatory bullying lies in the fact that in it the victim is targeted because he belongs to a minority group, for reasons of religion or personal convictions, disabilities, age, sexual orientation, gender, or ethnic origin. The latter is the case of ethnic bullying, which affects young people who become the target of bullying for their belonging to a given ethnic group or for their migration background.