p2pnet - rss feed: UK teachers vs Cyber Bullies
p2pnet.net news:- British teachers say they need protection against “cyber bullying”.
But, says the Department for Education and Skills (DES), quoted by the BBC, teachers aren’t without defences.
They, “now have stronger legal powers to deal with cyber pests as part of our continued fight against bullying,” says the DES.
“They can now confiscate mobile phones which are being used in a malicious or disruptive way. We encourage them to make full use of this power.”
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATl) has, “warned of the distress caused to teachers by anonymous, malicious comments on websites,” says the BBC, going on, “offensive” comments and mocking video clips shouldn’t be allowed to undermine teachers’ authority, says the union.
Public mockery of teachers, “robs them of dignity and self-esteem,” the story has general secretary Mary Bousted stating.
A survey quoted by the union claimed that 45% of teachers had received an attack by e-mail, 15% had received threatening texts - and that 10% had been upset by messages written about them on web sites.
The US-based RateMyTeachers.com carries comments about individual, named teachers, the Beeb points out, going on that although the RateMyTeachers website allows pupils to rate their teachers’ ability and to add a comment, “it does not allow references to teachers’ personal lives or appearance, or to use sexual language or name calling”.
RateMyTeachers founder Michael Hussey says 70% of the ratings on the site were positive, according to the story, which quotes him as saying:
“But there are bad teachers. There are teachers who do not care, there’s no passion, they are there for the pay cheque.
“We want to show who is really connecting with their students and who simply doesn’t care.”
Also See:
TechCrunch - Forget YouTube: Go To These Sites If You Want Hard Core Copyright Infringing Content, April 4, 2006
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