As a male teacher I believe that CCTV cameras would protect me and would reassure parents that I am a professional and trustworthy teacher . I would also be in favour of steaming footage live from my classroom to the parents of my students to give them insights into their child, the style in which I teach and the standard of learning inside the classroom.
I can understand why a falsely accused teacher would be in favour on cameras in the classroom. I just feel that the benefits for teachers are quite compelling:
A Falklands hero told yesterday how his life had been turned upside down by a girl who falsely claimed he sexually attacked her to appear “cool” to her schoolmates.
Ex-para Richard Cross, 51, who retrained as a teacher, said: “One minute I was sitting in school marking books the next I was in the back of a police van.
“That was in December 2011 and I haven’t been allowed back in school since. It’s been absolutely horrific.”
Richard, a dad of two, was cleared of all 10 charges against him after a two-week trial.
A 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had accused him of kissing her in a cupboard, putting his hands down her trousers and groping her breasts.
But the design and technology teacher said she had invented the story.
He told Lincoln court: “The girls she wanted to be with were quite a promiscuous bunch. I believe she wanted to be a part of the team.”
Richard, of Welton, Lincs, who is still suspended from his Lincoln school pending a disciplinary hearing, said .
He added: “It is the only way that you can give protection to staff.”
Click on the link to read Should Classrooms Be Fitted With Surveillance Cameras?
Click on the link to read Schools Putting Spy Cameras in Toilets and Change Rooms
Click on the link to read Two-Year Olds Forced to Have Fingerprints and Mug Shots Taken
Click on the link to read Male Teachers Beware!
Click on the link to read Are Male Teachers Subject to Sexual Discrimination?
Click on the link to read The absence of male teachers in public schools
Tags: accused him of kissing her in a cupboard, CCTV cameras, CCTV cameras should be installed in classrooms, Education, Falklands hero, Falklands vet, girl who falsely claimed he sexually attacked her, News, of Welton, putting his hands down her trousers and groping her breasts, Richard, Richard Cross, Richard Cross falsely accused, surveillance cameras in schools, survellance cameras in classrooms
Topical Teaching 
April 3, 2013 at 4:48 am |
I can see the protectiion it would give but there are other issues involved as well, such as the manner in which management can scrutinise your work remotely. I am not sure I am in favour of that.
April 3, 2013 at 11:23 am |
That’s true. You would have to have trust in management and vice versa.
April 3, 2013 at 6:01 am |
I share Jason’s concern. Everything you say and do in the classroom would be open to misinterpretation. What protection would a teacher have from that when the evidence (?) is recorded on camera? A better protection is to never ever be alone in a classroom with a student. When I worked as a behaviour specialist there were times when I needed to speak to students one on one. I always made certain that this took place in a public place, such as a quadrangle or a glassed in room in the library. The student and I were in full public view, I maintained a physical distance of at least a metre but was also able to conduct a lesson or an interview without being interrupted. Nothing was left open to misinterpretation and there were always witnesses that would be able to testify that nothing untoward was happening.
Another protection would be a legally enforceable and hefty compensation payment for any teacher who was falsely accused, payable by the education authority. All too often teachers are attacked by malicious management with no compensation for a ruined career.
An unfounded allegation is more devastating to a teacher’s career than one that is proven as it remains on the teacher’s record as a continuing blight forever.
I recall one brilliant lady teacher who was threatened with being placed on an improvement program by an incompetent principal. I stress that this teacher was highly competent particularly in music. the harassment caused her to be overstressed to the point of taking extended sick leave. when the leave had expired she was still too stressed to return to her class and was placed in an extraordinary position in a small school 50 km out of town. Here she began to shine. The music program at the school flourished with a number of students taking up instruments and the teacher’s confidence returned.
After some time this teacher wanted to apply for a transfer to a regular position but not to the school where she suffered the stress breakdown. Suddenly she was once more under a cloud. The principal of the small school couldn’t (?) sign off on her application because she wasn’t a regular member of staff. The principal of her regular school wouldn’t sign off on her application because she would be signing that she was a competent teacher, making her look stupid, and the district superintendent would do nothing because he supported the principals. It was only because a colleague and I pursued the matter through the union that the teacher’s position was regularised. She obtained her transfer and went to another school 50km in the other direction from home.
It was at this new school that she was finally accepted and she began to do what she did best: teach children. Her grade one students began to thrive educationally and she had the full support of the principal and the other staff. After about three years a new principal came across some departmental documentation that indicated her efficiency had been questioned. The persecution began again under this new principal, not because she was incompetent but because she had this slur on her record. In the end she resigned for the sake of her health. What a travesty! A career destroyed, an exceptionally competent teacher forced out of the profession by nothing more than innuendo.
This sort of thing is far too common.
April 3, 2013 at 11:51 pm |
I hope any teacher not currently doing as you have advised, do so immediately. Excellent post!
April 3, 2013 at 6:14 am |
I don’t believe CCTV is the only way to protect staff. I believe children need to be protected from abuse. Principals could be a lot more proactive and get around the classrooms more often showing support for their staff. There was a time when they did just that. Now they are tied up in red tape that keeps them busy in an office. I seem to remember a time when most of the routine administration was performed in a central office by clerical staff and principals were free to be educational leaders. With the advent of computers one would have expected the paperwork would have diminished for everyone. Not so. It seems to have expanded. Education systems seem to be more bureaucratised than ever and so legalistic that so much administrative time is taken up with compliance issues. This is one of the effects of over-standardisation.