To Safeguard Your Pupils, You Have To Speak Their Language
Children have always developed their own language, says Sam Pemberton – but keeping them safe in a connected world means learning to understand what they are really saying…
Technology has opened up countless possibilities for students by improving communication, collaboration, productivity, and accessibility. If we are quick to eulogise our connected world, however, we must also acknowledge its many risks – for just as it has revolutionised education, it has also given a new form to older evils.
Extremists who might have once had their dangerous ideas restricted to appearances in Speakers’ Corner can now leverage the vast reach of social media to recruit followers. Bullies who might have been punished for in-person harassment use the anonymity of the internet to hassle other pupils with (perceived) impunity. Warped ideas of a ‘perfect’ body image are disseminated widely to a vulnerable audience.
These things – and more – can jeopardise today’s schoolchildren in the playground, and at home.
The role of teachers
Of course, if you work in education, it’s understandable to wonder exactly what you can do about issues such as ISIS recruitment, cyberbullying, eating disorders and others. They’re all certainly problems, but are they a teacher’s problems – especially if they don’t occur within the boundaries of the school? You’re an educator, not a police officer or doctor. Even if this kind of protection is within your remit, what can you possibly do to help?
In truth, you’ve got more power than you might realise. In addition to your existing safeguarding responsibilities, the government has introduced counter-radicalisation duties into recent legislation, and Ofsted have incorporated provisions against extremism into its latest guidelines.
Knowing that you’re allowed to help, though, is one thing; knowing how you can actually help is a little trickier.
Speaking their language
One of the biggest obstacles for teaching staff is the specific vernacular of school-aged children. To an extent, this has always been an issue. Language evolves over time; slang from the 2000s will be seen as archaic now, while slang from the ‘90’s might as well be Plutonian. Even though some teachers may only be a few years removed from their pupils, it can often seem like centuries.
Complicating matters is the fact that children don’t always understand the language they use themselves. Dangerous speech can sometimes be used inadvertently. If a child sees a hateful term used on social media, they might say it for dramatic effect without understanding its full implications.
That’s not to say that the term can’t still be harmful – what they believe to be banter could conceivably spread further within the playground and cause real damage. If a pupil repeats negative rhetoric about immigrants, for example, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches the ears of a child from a foreign country.
For teachers, it’s important to bridge this generation gap somehow. If you think it’s wildly impractical to learn every possible idiom used by modern schoolchildren, you’d be absolutely right. As I said, language evolves all the time; even if you did somehow make the time to understand their lingo, your knowledge could be out of date within a year.
Nonetheless, it’s still valuable to look at some of these terms and their meanings. The following four categories do not encompass the full extent of the dangers, but together may represent a good overview of the sheer range of potentially problematic language.
1. Extremism At present, the radicalisation of children online is a particularly high-profile threat. It’s not just a moral panic – in 2015, several schoolchildren travelled to Islamic State territory at the behest of jihadist recruiters, the most notorious case being the three girls who departed for Syria from their London school in February that year.
It’s vital for schools to counteract this threat however they can, but it can be incredibly difficult to identify. The language of radicals is insidious and coded by design; words that might seem innocuous or incomprehensible can mask sinister intent. At first glance, for example, ‘YODO’ might not seem to signify anything in particular – but the acronym stands for ‘You Only Die Once’, reflecting the extremist’s ideology of martyrdom.
2. Hate speech Of course, children don’t just join Islamic State on a whim. Often they’ll be susceptible to such messages because they feel isolated from their peer group – a perception that isn’t helped by exclusionary language.
The internet has changed hate speech as surely as it has changed everything else. A schoolchild will know that racial epithets are not tolerated, so he or she might say ‘FOTB’ instead – meaning ‘fresh off the boat’, a racist term for newly arrived immigrants. Equally, a teacher might not be aware that ‘donut puncher’ is a derogatory term for a homosexual male, unknowingly allowing those with malicious intent to use it freely.
3. Bullying This kind of malice is hardly new. Bullying has always been a profound social ill, but one that now finds particular purchase in the context of the internet. Many might be aware that there are consequences for online bullying, but the perception that there are be no consequences for using social media and other online platforms in cruel ways can be powerful indeed.
Perceived anonymity can embolden people to say things they would never dream of uttering in a face-to-face situation. Pupils can disguise these hurtful messages further with cryptic language, such as ‘DIRL’ – which might seem harmless, but actually stands for ‘Die In Real Life’, a term used to encourage suicide.
4. Eating disorders As bad as bullying is, sometimes the worst cruelties are unintentional. Pupils, like anyone else, are entirely capable of causing great harm without meaning to do so.
In certain corners of the internet, eating disorders have become a dangerous way of life. Borderline-emaciated models are admired as ‘thinspiration’; the ‘cotton-wool method’ – more or less exactly what it sounds like – is used to suppress appetite. Divorced from their proper context, however, both of these phrases could go ignored.
Striking the right balance
At Impero, we collect these keywords and many more within a regularly updated glossary. Our classroom monitoring software makes it possible for teachers to expand this list themselves. It can alert them whenever a suspect phrase is used on a school machine, and place these phrases within a larger context or trend.
But no matter how sophisticated technology becomes, it’s a tool – and no substitute for an effective strategy. Knowing may be half the battle, but what good is a half-won battle?
Appropriately responding to dangerous language and behaviour requires a delicate touch and a generous helping of common sense. Pupils have a right to both safety and freedom of expression, and striking the right balance is vital.
If you overhear a student discussing Islamic State, it’s not necessarily cause for concern; the organisation alas, continues to be big news, and an interest in current affairs is not to be discouraged. A pattern of searches that indicate a serious interest in travelling to Syria, however, will require intervention.
Monitoring, not blocking
The idea is to monitor, not block or restrict. Opening dialogue with pupils is an essential part of safeguarding in schools. Hopes, fears, and insecurities are all too common at secondary school, and all are liable to be preyed upon.
Find out what these are. Use your conversations with students to design instructive PSHE lessons. Let cyberbullies know there are always consequences; let groups of children know that hate speech will not be tolerated; let girls know that a healthy, functioning body is immensely preferable to a malnourished one.
When you identify hazards, intervene, but don’t issue commands or bans unless there is no alternative. For all that your responsibilities have increased, you’re still an educator, not a warden. Schoolchildren are entirely capable of thinking for themselves – if you trust them to do the right thing, they usually will. Speaking their language is about more than simply understanding the words.
Sam Pemberton is the CEO of Impero Software; you can follow him at @sampemberton
