News location:

Canberra Today 12°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Ban won’t stop cyber bullying, says principal

Canberra Girls Grammar School principal Anne Coutts.
CANBERRA Girls Grammar School are attempting to counteract cyber bullying by encouraging more internet devices in the classroom as part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Week.

“Continuing to ban the Internet won’t solve problems such as cyber bullying,” principal Anne Coutts said.

“Sitting in the quiet of their rooms, students have a false sense of the anonymity of online social networking and express themselves in ways they would not face-to-face. At a former school, I asked a student to walk to the back of my office and read out loud what she had posted online about a classmate. She couldn’t.

“At Canberra Girls Grammar, we want to tackle the behaviour rather than the technology. We have built up our infrastructure capacity to allow students to start bringing in their own devices and logging into our School ICT network.”

Ms Coutts said the school uses an e-learning program that encourages students to post online points of view persuasively yet sensitively.

“They are encouraged to consider others’ viewpoints without needing to accept them, they are taught to consider the consequences of any action before it’s taken,” she said.

“In our teaching and in our pastoral care we endeavour to give students the tools to become mature adults, to apply critical thinking to what they post and read online. We encourage parents to print out inappropriate postings and bring them to us.

“Schools are stepping up to play a major role in regulating online behaviour. But it is important that parents and the wider community understand it is not technology that’s the problem, it’s the way it’s being used.”

National Cybersecurity Awareness Week starts today until June 15.

CGGS Principal Anne Coutts will be blogging her comments at http://blog.staysmartonline.gov.au/

 

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews