FINALLY, A MINISTER ACTS ON DANGERS OF SMARTPHONES
Bruton lays out plan forcing schools to take a stance on devices
EDUCATION Minister Richard Bruton is to force schools to confront growing concerns over smartphones in the classroom. Under a new plan being outlined today, parents, teachers and pupils will be asked for their views on how the web-enabled devices should be regulated during school hours.
Every school will then be required to draw up a parent and student charter that would guide how schools engage with pupils on this and other issues, but
each school will have the final say on the policy it adopts in various areas, including smartphone use.
After an acknowledgement by the Government of the ‘potential risks’ these devices pose, the move is seen by many campaigners opposed the ownership of tablets and smartphones by children as a step in the right direction.
However, an outright age limit on the use of such devices, which thousands of people have supported as part of the Irish Daily Mail’s Protect Our Kids Online campaign, has yet to be looked at by the Government.
As part of the reforms, Mr Bruton will issue a circular to all primary and secondary schools in the ‘coming weeks’ instructing them to consult with teachers, parents and pupils ‘on the use of smartphones and tablet devices in schools’.
The minister, who appears at the Teachers Union of Ireland’s annual conference today, said internet use by children and teenagers is a now serious issue for parents.
‘The use of smartphones and tablet devices by our young people is an area that has increasingly caused concern,’ he said. ‘New technologies are fundamentally transforming the world we live in.
‘These changes offer fantastic opportunities for our young people but also pose potential risks, which we as a Government must respond to. My department supports schools in responding to these challenges in a number of ways through the provision of advice, training and other supports on the development of policies including acceptable usage policies. Today’s announcement that schools will consult with parents on the use of smartphones in their schools will
Increasing concern at devices’ use
ensure that parents, students and schools have a shared understanding of the smartphone-use policy their school has in place.’
The consultation process on smartphones will be carried out under the auspices of a new Education Bill under which the minister will require every school to draw up a parent and student charter that will guide how schools engage with students.
The new system will leave it open to schools to decide whether or not their current policy is appropriate or if they would like it adjusted or strengthened in some way, which could be done, for example, by introducing restrictions of some form.
As well as having to consult with parents and pupils about smartphone use under the new proposed law, schools will have to consult with them about a number of other issues, including class costs.
Schools will also be asked to consult with parents and pupils on how they can provide better information about their management and policies, including information on admission, extracurricular activities and school performance.
A Government source explained that this Bill is being drafted by the Attorney General’s office and it is on the priority list to be published before the summer. ‘Government will approve the draft and it will be published and then debated in the Dáil,’ they added.
Provisions in the general scheme of the Bill include providing the Education Minister with the power to ‘direct school boards to comply with the guidelines’.
On the issue of smartphone usage by minors, a senior Government source reiterated to the Mail that the use of such devices ‘has increasingly caused concern’. ‘The minister wants to ensure that the education system responds to the pace of technological change and the huge prevalence and impact that smartphones have had on society,’ the source added.
However, the failure to introduce an outright ban on smartphones in schools, or even an all-out ban on them for underage users, will come as a disappointment to some. The Mail’s Protect Our Kids Online campaign has attracted as many as 2,000 signatures to a petition calling for the Government to introduce a minimum age for smartphone ownership. In February, 92 principals from across the country told this newspaper that they backed the idea of an age restriction. Three opinion polls also showed huge support among the public to introduce a minimum age for smartphone ownership, with a poll featured in the Mail showing 69% were in favour of banning children under 16 from owning smartphones.
As part of the drafted Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill 2016, the Department of Education is citing ‘the use of smartphones and tablet devices in schools’ as being a example ‘of the type of issue which requires collaboration and consultation from parents and students and is ideal for testing this new approach’.
According to his department, Minister Bruton said such ‘parental and student engagement in this critical area in the coming months would be very valuable in ensuring that it can readily be included in the charter when the legislation is enacted’. Schools will be instructed to consult with parents, teachers and pupils in the coming months on the following: ÷ The appropriate use, if any, of tablet devices and smartphones in school; ÷ If smartphones and tablet devices are to be allowed, in what circumstances, e.g. recording videos, taking photos etc; ÷ The nature and scope of restrictions that might be applied by the school, e.g. age grounds; ÷ Whether smartphones should be allowed outside of class time; ÷ Measures to ensure a shared approach on the appropriate use of digital technologies in the home and during students’ free time, as well as possible awareness-raising initiatives.
After these consultations, schools should then update their policies, the Department states, and they may avail of the support and advice programme Webwise with this.
Mr Bruton said he believed that ‘our education must respond’ to change.
Yesterday, the Mail reported on new reforms by Minister Bruton that will update sex education in schools, including new lessons on the issues of consent and sexuality, which will be implemented in all schools.
‘Collaboration and consultation’
EVERY person who stands accused of a sexual offence enters a court of law with the presumption of innocence attached to their name.
Yes, they may well stand charged of a crime and that alleged crime may well be of an unsavoury and brutal nature. Until proof of guilt is established beyond reasonable doubt, however, the defendant must always be considered as precisely that, and nothing more. Simply the defendant; not the perpetrator of a crime. The belief that those accused are always innocent until proven guilty is, after all, at the very cornerstone of our legal system.
By the same token, however, an alleged victim of such a crime must surely be accredited with a status that befits the circumstances. She, or he, feels wronged. By their own admission and by dint of pursuing a case in the first place, they consider themselves to be the victim.
Subsequently such an alleged victim should surely be considered, before the law, as more than simply a witness. As the person who has prompted the proceedings in the hope of getting justice for themselves, their status is obviously of some import. That such alleged victims are currently regarded as witnesses and entitled to no legal representation in such cases is patently wrong. The major stakeholders in such a case – both the accused and the accuser – are surely entitled to all the legal support that they can get.
Many of those who consider themselves the victim have extremely personal and disturbing stories to tell from their perspective. For those unfamiliar with the surroundings of a courtroom that can be, understandably, somewhat overwhelming. Nor is everyone, indeed, equipped to negotiate their way through the labyrinthine legal processes involved.
That Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, Jim O’Callaghan, has raised the issue of legal representation for alleged victims of sexual offences is therefore to be welcomed. While not undermining in any way the presumed innocence of those who stand accused, such support for alleged victims seems to be a proper – and fair – way forward.