Talking Point: Cyberbullying
Josephine Serieux wonders if cyberbulling can be curtailed by the Governmentâs latest guidance for schools.
Before this week, I thought that cyberbullying simply referred to bullies using old school tactics but with a 21st century twist. Like arranging fights after school by text, or stealing lunch money by hacking into bank accounts. A bit like Grange Hill meets Buck Rogers of the 25th Century. Without the silver suits which, in my mind, was a bit of a shame.
But a top news story this week has given me a swift reality check. According to a government study, more than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have experienced some form of cyberbullying: hate emails, online chatrooms, social networking sites, mobile phone and unauthorised publication of victimsâ personal details. Some cyberbullies are mean enough to intimidate through online gaming or by dispatching computer viruses.
What has surprised me most is how big a problem this is for teachers. Students are now using mobile phones for capturing video and pictures of their teachers, sharing them around the school and even uploading them to the internet. Chris Yeates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, commented, "Misuse of internet sites can destroy teachers' confidence and professional reputation and provide yet another vehicle for false allegations against staff."
A new guide (drawn up in conjunction with mobile phone companies and social networking sites) is being sent to all schools in England to help them draw up anti-bullying policies that cover cyberbullying. But how effective can the proposed measures be? Schools canât control what students upload to external sites. And even if these sites remove the harmful content, the danger is that it all still amounts to firefighting. Technology moves so quickly and students are digital natives in a world where many teachers are just out-of-towners who just pop in every now and again to take a nervous peek at whatâs new.
I guess overall it just proves that technology can be used for evil as well as for good. Watch Terminator 2 if you donât believe me.
BBC report: Fight cyberbullies, schools told
Josephine Serieux is LGT's Communications Manager
What's your view? Can Government action stop the school cyber bullies? Add a comment below and vote in our poll
Comments
Cyberbullying film: Let's Fight It Together
Check out this cyberbullying film 'Let's Fight It Together' on the Digizen.org website:
http://www.digizen.org/cyberbullying/fullFilm.aspx
Digital Natives
I guess this is the paradox of the digital native generation. The technology at their fingertips provides them with amazing opportunities that often includes informal learning. But many might not have the maturity to use the freedom and anonimity of these platforms wisely: and exhibit the same behaviour in cyber space as they would in the playground. Digital immigrants often do not have the level of expertise required to police their behaviour, and anyway, these platforms, by their very nature, do not allow for such restrictions.
How we can we control cyber bullying? I'm not sure. But it is clear that alongside the technical skills that students learn or are taught must come an understanding that even in cyber space their actions have consequences.
Admiring ingenuity?
Paradox indeed! Part of me is almost impressed at the level of enterprise and initiative which some of these cyber bullies demonstrate. How could we harnass these creative talents in a more helpful and productive way? Are these students being sufficiently challenged - is this another expression of their boredom with school and a curriculum which can seem irrelevant? Not that boredom should excuse bullying of course... Complex questions and I agree that it seems as if the 'grown-ups' are too often too many steps behind to keep up!
Rate my Teacher
I don't know if anyone has had a look at the 'Rate my Teacher' website? I did and I'm really not impressed. My dads a teacher so thought it would be funny to look him up, and I found only 2 comments, but both negative!! (I really doubt any student would write anything nice about their teacher). It would be really upsetting for a teacher to read a bad comment about themselves on a website, comments that everyone in the whole world can see! If anything is going to knock their confidence and damage their reputation, it's sites like these!! This is blatant cyberbulling...
touche?
I often wonder how many delicate egos we may have scraped during our time as a teachers....?
The harsh marking, to try to encourage more rigour; the smart alec comment and flippant sarcasm that oozes in British classrooms; the dressing downs; the pressure of time that leaves the quiet child the quiet child...
Are we all so innocent that we don't deserve a reality check in the harsh glare away from that closed classroom door?
Do we serously believe that we breeze through the school year unblemished.
Is it cyberbullying or tit-for-tat?
A child that faces that kind of public ridicule, however, is another matter; and there are cruel people out there. Think back to your own school days and consider which 'monsters' do you recall who would have been posting venom on the WWW if they had had access to it?
Also, consider those pedagouges that you may have been posting snippets of true spontaneous criticism about if you had the technology at your fingertips?