Teaching Against Hate in a Globalised World. Lessons from Initial Teacher Education in Chile for Social Work Education

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article presents a coherently structured theoretical foundation, from the most general to the most specific aspects. It begins with a necessary conceptualization of hate speech and its impact in the school context. It then theoretically substantiates the influence of social media and the digitalization of communication on the spread of hate speech and, consequently, the necessary digital education/media literacy and student empowerment to identify, analyze, and counter hate speech in initial teacher training. The objective is to promote conflict prevention and resolution strategies based on dialogue and human rights education, which connects the study with international educational guidelines and the globalized environment.

The qualitative methodology selected for the study, as well as the technique (focus group), is the most appropriate to meet the stated objectives, providing the interpretivist paradigm as the ideal framework for analyzing participants' narratives about their experiences with hate speech in the classroom and in digital environments.

Since this is an exploratory-descriptive design, probabilistic generalizations cannot be made, but they can be understood as a rigorous and contextualized approach that reveals emerging patterns and categories that can be compared in other contexts using the same method.

A large and diverse sample is presented for the type of study (18 focus groups conducted at six different universities). Data processing with ATLAS.ti revealed recurring patterns in the participants' discourse, generating emerging categories from their accounts and providing a structured view of how hate speech is perceived and manifested in initial teacher training. This is key to planning educational improvement actions related to addressing hate speech in the school context. A sound diagnosis is key to developing educational innovations.

It is recommended that more information be provided about the semi-structured interview designed for the focus groups.

One of the study's greatest strengths is that the proposals emerge from the participants themselves, based on dialogic reflection. Although specific actions are not achieved, a roadmap or guide for focused approaches is generated.

Lines 47, 48 and 49 indicate that “it reviews theoretical and empirical work on the relationship between hate speech, social media, and education, with the aim of proposing mechanisms that foster inclusive, respectful coexistence across both school and digital contexts.” However, no concrete educational actions have materialized, but rather lines of action that must be presented as such.

Most significantly, the study has identified the presence and manifestations of hate speech within initial teacher training and its impact on the construction of professional identity and coexistence in educational settings, thus serving as a basis for future improvement actions.

 

Author Response

We sincerely thank the reviewers for their insightful and constructive feedback on our manuscript. Their comments have been highly valuable in strengthening the quality and clarity of our work. In response, we have carefully addressed all the points raised: additional details were incorporated regarding the semi-structured interview protocol; contextual information about the types of hate speech disseminated in Chilean digital media and the groups most frequently targeted was added; and the formal presentation of the tables was revised to improve readability and consistency.

We are confident that these modifications have significantly improved the manuscript, both in terms of methodological transparency and theoretical depth. We are grateful for the reviewers’ contribution, which without doubt has enhanced the rigour, coherence, and overall impact of the article.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The competency-based training of future teachers for the teaching-learning of a democratic and critical citizenry, although a recurring theme in pedagogical and didactic circles as well as in the curricular spirit of recent educational laws, nevertheless lacks research that translates into classroom methodologies and practices that first detect where we are, as this article does, in order to propose, from that context, ideas that university teachers can implement in their classrooms.

The article provides enlightening and concerning data not only about the lack of training of university teachers in digital literacy and critical tools against the discourses circulating on social networks, but also about the possibility that these teachers act as potential agents in the reproduction of symbolic structures of exclusion, an aspect widely demonstrated, for example, in the field of gender equality.

It is also interesting how trainee teachers understand the principle of teaching authority from the perspective of constraint on the exercise of their freedom and, consequently, from democratic coexistence.

As a recommendation to the authors, as future lines of action research to be addressed based on the research carried out—which is excessively broad from the outset, as are the hate speeches themselves—is to delve deeper into the different topics raised regarding the concept of discrimination and its possible variants in order to be able to implement theoretical and practical resources with solvency, since many fronts are opened and it is necessary to address them from the individual to the global.

Author Response

We sincerely thank the reviewers for their insightful and constructive feedback on our manuscript. Their comments have been highly valuable in strengthening the quality and clarity of our work. In response, we have carefully addressed all the points raised: additional details were incorporated regarding the semi-structured interview protocol; contextual information about the types of hate speech disseminated in Chilean digital media and the groups most frequently targeted was added; and the formal presentation of the tables was revised to improve readability and consistency.

We are confident that these modifications have significantly improved the manuscript, both in terms of methodological transparency and theoretical depth. We are grateful for the reviewers’ contribution, which without doubt has enhanced the rigour, coherence, and overall impact of the article.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article's topic is relevant and pertinent; it is well-written and responds to a growing line of research. Particularly interesting are:

- the assessment of how hate speech affects the mental health of pre-service teachers.

- the conclusions highlight the need to work toward a pedagogy of recognition and care.

 

We recommend improving the text by incorporating a paragraph specifically mentioning what types of hate speech are disseminated in Chilean digital media and which groups or minorities it is directed are targeted.

Formally, the presentation of the tables could be improved by trying to keep them on a single page for easier reference.

Author Response

We sincerely thank the reviewers for their insightful and constructive feedback on our manuscript. Their comments have been highly valuable in strengthening the quality and clarity of our work. In response, we have carefully addressed all the points raised: additional details were incorporated regarding the semi-structured interview protocol; contextual information about the types of hate speech disseminated in Chilean digital media and the groups most frequently targeted was added; and the formal presentation of the tables was revised to improve readability and consistency.

We are confident that these modifications have significantly improved the manuscript, both in terms of methodological transparency and theoretical depth. We are grateful for the reviewers’ contribution, which without doubt has enhanced the rigour, coherence, and overall impact of the article.