SHS in the Media: body cameras in schools - missing the point?
News article from May 5, 2017
Writing for SSAT’s (the Schools, Students and Teachers Network) blog, CEO Jaine Stannard looks at the recent use of body cameras in schools. Could there be a better solution? She thinks so.
She begins:
“Last month, it was revealed that teachers in two schools were piloting body cameras in order to prevent child-on-teacher violence. People reacted strongly, with some teachers saying they would refuse to work in a school that used the equipment, and others citing an invasion of privacy.
Many articles in the press discussed whether this would reduce disruption in the classroom; and whether it would turn teachers into police officers.
One thing was missing. Nobody addressed why pupils are violent in class and whether we can prevent rather than record it.
A child’s life is equally divided between home and school, so if we want to know why a child is behaving in a certain way it’s often helpful to consider both. I work for School-Home Support (SHS), a charity that focuses on this link and helps disadvantaged children counter home issues that might be disrupting their education, such as poverty, housing or domestic abuse. This disruption might take the form of poor or non attendance in school, little or no academic progress, or poor behaviour. It might even take the form of classroom violence. Our SHS practitioners are based in schools so that they can identify children experiencing these kind of issues and work closely with their families in order to resolve them.”
You can read the full article here: https://www.ssatuk.co.uk/blog/bodycams-schools-missing-point/