Social media ‘harms pupils’

HEADTEACHERS are calling for new social media laws to keep children safe, amid concerns that youngsters’ use of these sites is harming their mental health.

Most school leaders have received reports of pupils being bullied or being exposed to unsuitable material – such as sexual content or hate speech, with some saying this is happening on a daily or weekly basis, according to a small-scale poll by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

There were also concerns about parents’ behaviour on social media.

The union, which met for theits annual conference in Birmingham last week, said more needs to be done to protect young people.

The poll, which questioned 460 secondary school heads across Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, found that 95% believe that the mental health and wellbeing of pupils has suffered as a result of social media use over the past 12 months.

Nearly all of those polled said that they had received reports of pupils being bullied on social media, with 40% saying incidents were reported on a daily or weekly basis, while almost all had received reports of pupils encountering material including sexual content, self-harm, bullying or hate speech, with 27% saying this was reported on a daily or weekly basis.

More than nine in 10 (93%) said new laws and regulations should be introduced to ensure social media sites keep children safe, while three quarters (77%) think that the Government and social media firms should produce more information for parents.

The UK Government has said it wants the UK to be “the safest place in the world to be online” and has announced it will introduce a new code of practice this year, setting out the minimum expectations on social media companies.

The poll questioned 460 headteachers in January.