Smartphone school inquiry to take into consideration bullying and violent incidents filmed by students
MOBILE phone footage of bullying incidents will be scrutinised by the new review into classroom mobile phones — a move which emerges after sickening video of an attack in a South Coast school was released.
NSW
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MOBILE phone footage of bullying incidents will be scrutinised by the new review into classroom mobile phones.
Leading child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg will investigate the rise in smartphones being used to record schoolyard violence and bullying as part of his wider inquiry into use of phones in class.
Dramatic footage of a 13-year-old girl being viciously assaulted at Bega High School was posted to social media on Tuesday, with police laying charges against another teenage girl over the matter.
The injured girl was taken to South East Regional Hospital Bega with injuries to her face and the fellow student arrested later that night.
NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes ordered an Australia-first review into smartphones in school amid concerns about cyber-bullying and safety.
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Australian families were “living in dangerous times” with many concerns about cyber-bullying, online predators, social media and smartphone use, Mr Carr-Gregg said.
He said the office of the eSafety Commissioner reported a “staggering” 28 per cent increase in reports of cyber bullying and 42 per cent of children receiving unwanted contact by a perfect stranger.
“That really took me by surprise,” Mr Carr-Gregg said.
“We do have to seriously look at whether it is wise giving smartphones to kids in primary schools.
“I’m on the record as suggesting ‘dumb phones” but I’m not pre-empting the results of the inquiry.”
He said France banned mobile phones in schools earlier this year, but there was a lack of evidence and consistency about what does and does not work.
“The problem we have at the moment is that schools are using all different models,” he said.
“Some schools have the students hand in the phones when they arrive and pick them up at the end of the day.
A 13 year old girl has been charged over this assault at a school in the New South Wales town of Bega. #9News pic.twitter.com/NzmDut9NEp
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) June 21, 2018
“In other schools, kids can have them in their lockers. Others say you have to keep on your person and don’t use it in class.”
Mr Stokes said mobile phones were the “bane of teachers’ existence”.
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“Teachers in schools I go to constantly raise issues of use of classroom management from inappropriate use of smartphones,” he said.
“They can actually distract children in the classroom from learning.
“Parents are often at a loss to know how to approach the issue with their own children.
“They can isolate people in playgrounds and separate people from the world around them.”
Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney said he supported the review, given the massive growth in the past decade.
“It’s very timely to review the impact of smartphones and other devices on school students,” he said.
“There are undoubted benefits to having technology at your fingertips, but the prevalence of smartphones and similar devices among students while in school has created distractions and threats that did not exist a decade or so ago.”
He said each Catholic school currently determined its own policy.