In an interview reported in media earlier this week, Police Cyber Crime Unit Superintendent Anna Marie Xuereb and Inspector Matthew Sacco warned about the dangers associated with the uploading of content containing images of children, particularly due the manipulation of the uploaded images to produce abusive content. This is a very serious warning, which should not be ignored. Schools should rethink their policies on broadcasting specifically for the above reasons.
As a schoolchild in the 80s, the closest that we could get to broadcasting was through an appearance on TV or Radio shows for children. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, with auditions and often rigid selection processes. We would read a poem, participate in a quiz and when talented, would give a short performance. Recruitment was often carried out through the school, by using the services of a teacher who was linked to TV or Radio media. With online broadcasting becoming accessible to all, schools and educational institutions have become broadcasters. Parents expect that childcare educators send photos and videos to document minute-by minute developments of children. They expect kindergarten educators to continue to carry out the practice and so forth. Educators have become photographers and videographers, if not content creators, whist schools have become broadcasting entities.
This shift did not happen overnight. Childcare centres mushroomed in the past decade and their use has increased ever since. Previously, one parent stayed home with children or else close relatives took care of children whilst parents were at work. Children were minded all the time by trusted adults within the family. This was reassuring for parents. The national drive which led parents to send their children to childcare centres gave rise to the first school broadcasts.
Children were no longer with a trusted family member. Parents wanted to have evidence about the development of the child and in the same way, they were checking the work done by the respective childcare services. They started requesting daily photos and videos of children. Childcare centres who were not providing this service were pressured to adhere with the demands of parents. Very soon, children transitioned to kindergarten and parents continued to expect to receive online evidence of the development of children. Once reaching primary years, the broadcasting service of educators and schools was an integral part of the educational provision.
Schools extended broadcasting beyond the parent groups by creating pages on social media, which have become accessible to people beyond the school community. Competition between different schools resulted in the adoption of this broadcasting role by most schools. The common perception is that a school which is not broadcasting its work is not doing its duty, children are not learning, they are not having fun, they are not doing different activities and so forth.
On the other hand, a broadcasting school is cool, is fun, exciting and enjoyable, and is the place to be. Broadcasts attract not only children but also their parents and may determine the choice of school, where applicable. But like all good broadcasters there is a behind the scene, performances that do not go well and mishaps which are never broadcasted. Broadcasting is selective and despite the absence of auditions, what is produced and shared is filtered.
This brings us to the pursuit of truth as one of the fundamental pillars of education. We are seeing social media images of youth and adults alike, which are filtered, which are fake. Schools are often reproducing this fake culture, for likes, for followings and for recognition. They are not using filters offered by the software but they still have their filters. Schools are supposed to promote the truth, to encourage growth, to acknowledge and address student difficulties. They are not supposed to be using their broadcasts to portray an image which is fake. We are then baffled when a video of misbehaviour emerges, when the sweet children that we are used to see during school broadcasts are sometimes not so sweet in their behaviour.
We are portraying an image that what is important is not who you are, and what you can become but how you appear, how many times you appear and what you say or do on camera. We are sending the message that what is done off camera is not important. This will have repercussions. We must resist the drive for schools to become reality shows, if we want education to promote truth over fake mentalities. We require a national policy on school broadcasting.
Marco Bonnici is president, Malta Union of Teachers