Hate Speech and Education in the Digital Age: Challenges, Practices, and Pathways for Inclusion

In recent years, the proliferation of hate speech has emerged as a critical challenge within educational settings, extending across schools, universities, and vocational training institutions. While hate speech is not a new phenomenon, its diffusion has been amplified by digitalisation and the pervasive influence of social media platforms. The circulation of fake news, online bullying, and hostile interactions between students, teachers, and other educational actors have created new complexities for learning environments. These dynamics are not only reshaping peer and teacher–student relations but also influencing broader institutional practices, curricula, and educational policies. The tension between freedom of expression, the pursuit of justice, and the protection of democratic values is particularly evident in this context. Understanding how hate speech is produced, reproduced, and countered in education is therefore essential to fostering inclusive, equitable, and resilient learning communities.

The goal of this Research Topic is to address the complex ways in which hate speech permeates educational contexts in the digital age and to explore how it can be understood, prevented, and countered. Hate speech within education is not limited to verbal aggression but intersects with issues such as bullying, fake news, exclusion, and the erosion of trust in democratic values. It manifests across diverse spaces: formal education, including initial, continuous, and lifelong teacher education; informal and non-formal learning; and interactions among students, teachers, families, and educational institutions. By focusing on the role of social media and digitalisation in amplifying hostile discourse, this collection seeks to examine both the risks and the opportunities for educators, policymakers, and learners. The aim is to gather research that highlights preventive and pedagogical strategies, curricular responses, institutional measures, and legal and ethical frameworks that contribute to the creation of inclusive and democratic educational environments.

Contributors are encouraged to explore, among others, the following themes:

-The role of social media and digitalisation in the production and diffusion of hate speech.

-Fake news, cyberbullying, and online harassment as challenges in educational contexts.

-Manifestations of hate speech in schools, universities, and vocational training institutions.

-Teacher education (initial, continuous, and lifelong) and the preparation of educators to address hate speech.

-Peer and teacher–student relationships in digital and face-to-face environments.

-Curricular and pedagogical strategies to prevent and counter hate speech.

-Institutional and policy responses, including preventive measures and justice frameworks.

-Tensions between freedom of expression, democratic values, and educational justice.

Types of manuscripts welcomed include:

-Original research articles

-Systematic reviews

-Conceptual and theoretical contributions

-Case studies

-Policy and practice analyses

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Hate speech, Digitalisation, Teacher education, Social media and education, Educational justice, Curriculum, Bullying, Citizenship education, Hate speech and schools

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.