Legal and Ethical Contexts In My Digital Practice

Whakatauki

Te whakaaro nui, nga mahi mohio.

Conscious thought, conscious actions.

Expect It When You Least expect It!

When you work with students in a school you can forget that taking those students out of the school environment immediately exposes them to the vagaries and whims of a world that is not governed by shared policies and procedures. When students enrol at our school parents sign documentation that either permits or negates the use of their child’s digital image within school newsletters or on the school learning blogs. This documentation is regularly reviewed and adjusted accordingly. With the issues that can arise around misuse of images and also awareness around sensitive situations such as domestic violence or child custody cases we take the documentation seriously.

We have a number of ways in which we aim to educate students and whanau about some of the ‘pitfalls’ of the digital world. Parents and students sign a document called the Kawa of Care. The Kawa of Care identifies some of the ways in which digital tools are best managed for online safety and it is an agreement about responsible use of devices. We undertake ongoing programmes within the classroom on a cyber smart curriculum. Parents are also encouraged to attend evening sessions that allow them to discuss and explore issues relating to their child’s online safety.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of taking my class of Year 7 & 8s away on an outdoor education camp. We spent an evening at a hot pool complex and it came to my attention that there was a photographer roaming around the complex taking unsolicited photographs of my students. These were then to be available on line for order!

I spoke with my students about this and we discussed why this was of concern.  They readily saw the potential for misuse and some also felt that they had been pressured into posing for the photographs. I immediately located the photographer and asked that he remove any and all images of my students. He was a little taken aback so I explained to him our school policy. He agreed to do so but he was not apologetic nor did he seem to concede the invasion of privacy his photographs presented. I then followed this up with a face to face and a written letter to the management of the complex explaining our concerns. Their response was much more empathetic and responsible and it resulted in key changes to the way in which the private photographer was allowed to work within the complex.

It can be difficult to know exactly where to draw a line when you are ‘off site’.  I found this line easier to draw because I was aware of a recent case in which a South Island secondary school teacher had overlaid student images onto pornographic images of children he had found on the internet. The devastation of that manipulation of digital images highlighted for me the enormous responsibility we have to ensure the students in our care are not unwittingly caught up in the nefarious use of their personal image or data. This situation was all about ‘promoting the wellbeing of learners and protecting them from harm’ as stated in the Education Council (2017) Our Code Our Standards web booklet.

Current issues in my professional context

Current issues in my professional context

Whakatauki:

He waka eke noa

A canoe which we are all in with no exception.

Socioeconomic status of my community

The school in which I primarily work has the Decile Rating 8.  In Aotearoa /New Zealand decile ratings are based on census data for households with school-aged children within each school’s catchment area. The information is formulated against income, occupations and education of parents, how many people per household and parents on an assisted income.

I am interested in the shift towards a risk index for funding rather than a decile rating as we currently rely on school organisations like the Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A.) to provide extra resourcing. The risk index currently being proposed by the government will provide for the student needs within the school. The decile rating is often not indicative of the real picture of needs within a school. It does not take into account families with ORS or high needs students, the level of household debt prevalent in many of our homes, or the shift in employment or income that can happen within the five year interval of a census.

School Community

Our school is under a Ministry imposed enrolment scheme. This means that when our roll reaches a particular number then only children who live within our school zone, or who have siblings currently enrolled at our school,  are permitted to enrol. This creates some difficult conversations at times as we are considered a desirable school to attend.

Our school community has a strong history of support for the school with a proactive P.T.A. and effective Board of Trustees. Parents readily involve themselves with extra curricular activities and class excursions. Every year we hold a Grandparents Day that is attended by extended whanau from beyond our immediate community. We hold a community hangi every second year that is attended by the majority of families and in the alternate year we have an evening picnic/ barbeque and games night. We want, and strive for, an engaged relationship with our community.

We have stable staffing and this provides a strength within the school. Our Principal is a proponent of lifelong learning and this applies to staff as well as to students.  An area in here that I think could be developed further is in encouraging and engaging our parents and whanau as lifelong learners.

Our student cohort is at the centre of everything we strive for. We believe that we are all in this together and that we are all striving for success. This is evident in the student voice collected throughout the year as part of our appraisal process. Students vocalise their learning goals, personal, cultural and academic. We also recognise that some of our students and their families have many material advantages that others do not. Part of our work is around building a sense of equity and a social conscience.

Organisational Culture

I believe that the norms described by Stoll (1998 ) are embedded within the culture of our school but we work constantly to maintain this. We hold high expectations of ourselves as teaching professionals and of our students. We seek to build relationships first and to educate the children in both academic areas and the key competencies. We have had two consecutive Education Review Office (E.R.O.) reports with a five year review cycle.

Each week we hold professional learning community meetings focussing on developing our understanding and application of curriculum, teaching as inquiry, and curriculum review. As a staff and school community we are always aiming for improvement. There is a consistent cycle of review in curriculum and of teaching and learning programmes.

We believe strongly in the biculturalism of Aotearoa/New Zealand and provide a range of opportunities for Māori students and all students to develop in te reo and tikanga Māori.  This includes all staff and students being expected to be able introduce themselves with their pepeha or mihimihi, language development classes (He Kakano) and kapa haka, the development of key units from a Māori perspective, and an expectation that students and staff will use and respond to basic classroom commands and greetings, and include basic te reo within their written work.

At no time do we ever feel that we have ‘arrived’. Every student brings with them an ever changing kaleidoscope of need, expectation, and next steps.

References:

School Deciles Sourced from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture