Cyber-bullying is a critically important issue facing students and teachers that needs to be addressed with a national policy, according to the Canadian Teachers Federation president.
The issue of cyber-bullying, which can take place through email, cellphones and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, can involve the posting of comments, pictures or videos attacking students or teachers. Cyber-bullying has risen in prominence because of a number of incidents involving teachers and students across the country.
Two students at a Toronto-area school were suspended for complaining about their principal in February. Additionally, two 13-year old girls were suspended in Gatineau, Que. for posting a video of their teacher shouting at a student on YouTube in November 2006.
One of the objectives of the Canadian Teachers' Federation annual general meeting which begins Wednesday in Toronto, according to president Wayne Carter, will be to formulate a national policy addressing the issue.
"We're finding reports of this type of cyber-bullying are taking place at an increasingly rapid speed at the present time," Carter told CTV's Canada AM.
"It's becoming a real issue for us in our schools, in our homes as well, because as you know, cyber-bullying has got no boundaries. It's got no borders. And as a result of that, our children, our teachers, are not safe anywhere where they have access to the Internet."
According to the website cyberbullying.ca, 48 per cent of Canadian students use the Internet for at least an hour a day and 60 per cent of students use chat rooms and instant messaging. Teachers have been struggling to keep up with how quickly students have rapidly incorporated the various forms of communication available through the Internet into their lives, which leave them vulnerable to cyber-bullying.
"The kids right now... are open to harassment," Carter said. "They're open to bullying, they're open to intimidation, all because of the fact that they have access to the Internet. As a result of that, at one point in time in our earlier days...bullying took place in schoolyards which it still does -- the traditional type of bullying. But at the same time, what's happened is cyber-bullying is taking up where the traditional bullying stopped. At one point in time a child could be safe at home. Not any more, that's the problem."
There have been some efforts to address the issue of cyber-bullying. Ontario students who engage in physical or online bullying could be suspended from classes under the Safe Schools Act legislation passed last month. As well as welcoming these changes, Carter lauds the efforts of the Media Awareness Network's efforts to teach courses about online safety and the co-operation of some Internet service providers in addressing the issue by removing material from websites.
However, he still feels that much work needs to be done and that a national policy at the teacher's conference is just one step towards to fully addressing cyber-bullying.
"Our plan right now is to look at some policy that we can put in place that will look at the issues of cyber-bullying and put in place some items, some things that will hopefully bring our classrooms to a safer level so that our teachers can teach and our students can learn," Carter said.
With files from the Canadian Press
