Trustee John Kerr is worried about students safely using social media.
He is bringing forward a motion to the British Columbia School Trustees Association AGM in April asking that the ministry of education provide resources and a clear framework for the delivery of the social media component of the digital literacy curriculum.
“I think it is really important as an education system, not just for Campbell River, but as an education system that we address this because this is an aspect of our children’s lives that can have a real impact,” he said.
Kerr hopes that the ministry will implement and train teachers to discuss topics of internet safety including cyber bullying, sexting, sextortion, phishing, fake news and posting videos.
The internet never forgets, Kerr said. Students post something and it can have long-lasting consequences.
He also said that a deeper understanding of social media will be a useful tool as it has become an integral part of business and marketing in today’s workforce.
“You just can’t assume that because people know how to use social media that they know how to use it right, that they know how to use it safely,” he said.
Though there is a digital literacy curriculum, Kerr said that the directions and requirements around teaching social media safety are vague and either haven’t been implemented or haven’t been implemented in a consistent and helpful way.
“As an education system we are not here just to teach math and reading…we are here to prepare children for their life after school,” he said.
Trustee Richard Franklin supported the motion.
“It is one thing to create curriculum, it is another thing to implement it,” he said. “Very likely what has happened here has that we got a situation where implementation needs to be strengthened with time and resources.”
In the motion that will be brought forward to the AGM, Kerr also said that an additional factor of concern is that many teachers did not grow up in the social media age and have no more than a surface understanding of social media.
“Basically I am suggesting that the Ministry of Education, the BC Teacher’s Federation, the BCSTA look at this thing and say ‘what needs to happen here to make sure that we insulate our kids against getting themselves into situations that will be fraught with serious consequences’,” he said.