Cyber bullying takes up too much time of teachers, says principals chief

Cyber bullying is a “very significant issue” in schools, with many children too young to safely operate technology, says Tasmania Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott.

Tasmanian Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

CYBER bullying is a “very significant issue” in schools, with many children too young to safely operate technology, says Tasmania Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott.

Mr Elliott said the issue took up a considerable amount of teachers’ time each week – time lost from the learning students should be doing at school.

He said there was “little more energy, effort or commitment” that could be offered by schools to help combat the ugly behaviour.

He said education from children’s families and the community were also part of the solution.

“Digital technology is a fantastic learning platform but it has a significant downside and can cause a lot of harm,” he said.

“The community has to embrace the responsibility of supervising and training our children . . . about what it means to be a responsible user of cyber technology.”

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Mr Elliott said children using the internet needed to be supervised by parents or adults until it was determined they were ready to use the technology safely.

“We see the misuse of social media, in particular, by people who have got access to the internet who shouldn’t have it,” he said.

His comments come after a video emerged of a schoolyard brawl in Hobart’s northern suburbs last month, which showed a student’s head being stomped on while he lay motionless on the ground.

Mr Elliott welcomed the tougher bullying laws proposed by the State Government over the weekend, which he said signalled how serious the issue was in the broader community.

The draft Criminal Code Amendment (Bullying) Bill 2019 would see bullies proven as wanting to cause serious physical or mental harm to their victims facing possible jail time.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said yesterday the Government would continue to work positively with schools on ways to deal with bullying.

“The Tasmanian Government is investing record amounts into education and we’ve committed $3 million over four years for anti-bullying programs run in consultation with highly regarded organisations such as the Alannah and Madeline Foundation,” he said.

“This investment builds on our commitment to combat bullying and cyber bullying.”

Labor community development spokesman Scott Bacon said the video of the fight at Jordan River Learning Foundation showed schools did not have resources to make sure such incidents did not happen.

“Our schools are not resourced well enough, we’re not getting the experts in that can deal with these very complex issues to make sure that not only the students are safe but also that teachers and other support staff are safe as well,” Mr Bacon said.

“There’s no doubt we all need to do more as a society to make sure that we don’t have bullying in our schools, our workplaces or anywhere.”