I enjoy the eighties tale of a teacher who arrived at work to see foot high graffiti on a wall proclaiming: “Mr Smiths a fat git”.
Obviously he was affronted, and his anger emanated from three areas: an English teacher, he was appalled by the missing apostrophe; he was furious at the vandalism of school property; and, as a long serving, popular member of staff, he was upset that a pupil would write such a thing about him.
The grammar and printing pointed to a culprit, and soon he was being frogmarched in the direction of the 'wall art'.
This teacher was known for his discipline and the pupil stood, head bowed, while he was given the message in no uncertain terms about respect for school, staff and property.
The lad braced himself for the coupe de grace. When it came, it was disarming: “And what you’ve written, James! How could you? I am not a git...”
The tale exemplified that no teachers are immune from abusive comments, but how, previously, an established member of staff could deal with such incidents in a personal manner, with a mixture of stern discipline and self deprecating humour.
However, times change and, as noted by teachers’ unions recently, abuse and harassment of teachers today is more likely to be found online than on walls. Last year a community policeman suggested up to 30% of their time could be related to online bullying - of pupils, and sometimes teachers.
Unlike the writing on the wall, cyber comments can spread further and often stray into the realms of defamation. In addition, they exist in a forum which, to many youngsters brought up with social media, is not considered 'real life'. Many teenage timelines demonstrate a worrying lack of awareness about security settings, appropriate information and acceptable comment.
Given the universality of smart phones, tablets and laptops, and the expertise of the young, proscription is not a realistic option. So how do we protect teachers and pupils from these online attacks?
The answer lies in established approaches: build an atmosphere of respect in the school, ensure pupils know what is not acceptable and ensure sanctions are well known, and always followed through. Online bullying shoud be a major topic in our Personal and Social Education classes and pupils must be guided towards responsible use of the internet across the board. Embracing social media in teaching approaches can help, though it provides tough challenges in terms of monitoring and limiting its use.
Finally, as in so many other situations, there needs to be partnership with parents, even information evenings and courses to help them monitor their children’s use of the net and encourage positive habits.
Guiding pupils towards responsible use is likely to be more successful than attempting to proscribe social media – but it’s a big challenge requiring resources and time, and teachers must have support in this.
The first step to minimising the problem is to admit it exists; the next is to work together to deal with it. Most pupils do not abuse teachers, those who do need to know it is unacceptable and will be dealt with.
The way forward is education, partnership, and involvement. Not a bad mission statement in any area of school life.
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