My Problem, Your Problem, Our Problem.

Let’s face it; the Internet is here to stay as are all the associated devices that provide us with instant connectivity 24/7. Whilst there are numerous benefits that come with technology use, there are also many things that can go wrong.

Often a young person’s technical skill far outweighs their cognitive development, which means that they are not capable of understanding the consequences of their actions, nor can they perceive and foresee risk. Young people worldwide were the early adopters of technology and are still the primary vulnerable population. Cyberbullying, online harassment and the sending of sexual images are just some of the things that schools and organisations are expected to deal with.

Schools in particular have a duty of care to their students. This duty of care can be applied in a variety of other situations as well such as community groups, sport clubs, dance schools and any other formal setting. These institutions must be aware that they will be required to deal with things that occur online. Regardless of when the issue occurred, you will be legally responsible for dealing with it if it involves anyone connected to your school or organisation.

Simply having a policy is far from sufficient as St Patrick’s College, Campbelltown found when a former student sued them for injuries received whilst under their care as a result of ongoing bullying. The judge noted that the school had identified bullying as an issue and had published two related policies in the student diary. The main issue at law was that they did not follow their own policy in dealing with bullying that was reported to them.

Justice Monika Schmidt found Jazmine Oyston suffered psychiatric injury as a direct result of the school’s “failure to take the very steps it had devised to prevent such injury being inflicted by one student upon another”.

Later the Court of Appeal found that:

The application of common sense leads, in my view, to the conclusion that it is more probable than not that, but for the failure of the College to actively implement the policy, the psychological injury to the appellant would not have occurred or at least would have been minimised…there can be little doubt…that her psychological injuries were materially contributed to by the bullying that she was forced to endure during 2004 as a consequence of the College’s breach of its duty of care.

So what does this mean? 

This issue cannot be ignored and every organisation should have a defined cyberbullying/cybersafety policy. The policy alone however is worth nothing. It must be thoroughly communicated to all stakeholders through comprehensive education sessions and must be implemented.

If your organization does not have a relevant policy now is the time to write one.

 

Susan is Australia’s leading Cybersafety expert and has been a member of the Generation Next team since its inception. She is the author of Sexts Texts & Selfies – How to keep your child safe in the digital space, published by Penguin. More information is available via her website: http://www.cybersafetysolutions.com.au