Dealing with kids.

[ghafoor]

Hi all,

If you see a kid surfing the net and spot an inapropriate site being looked at by the pupil, as a technician what would you do? Would you tell the kid off? How would you deal with it?

What is the policy when it comes to kids issues such as that?

[pooley]

Immediately reprimand the student, then inform class teacher. I expect to be respected by the children the same as a teacher is.

[aerospacemango]

I'd inform the lecturer/teacher straight away, make sure I know what the site is called, and immediately go back to our filter and investigate how they got through to it.....

Then, block the site.

[elsiegee40]

Block the site asap. Inform the teacher and also the Designated e-safety officer (DEO)/child protection officer (DCPO). This is a Safeguarding issue from your point of view.

Technically this should go straight to the DEO/DCPO (often one and the same person... the HT) and it is up to them to decide how to deal with the incident. You may be heavily involved in what actions come next, but they have to know and the decisions have to be theirs.

[Hightower]

Discipline is not our area. I'd inform the teacher and ask how they want me to deal with it (i.e. block the account, website or whatever). I don't get paid enough to discipline students (read as in it's not my responsibility) unless I feel the matter needed immediate intervention (such as a safety issue like a fight breaking out in the corridor and I was the only staff member around) - in which case I'd only deal with it as long as required (i.e. being relieved by another member of staff).

[GrumbleDook]

Ask them what they are meant to be learning, ask them whether their present activities is contributing to it and then suggest that they get on with their work whilst you inform the teacher of what they have been doing, including awarding whatever the school's approach to discipline / penalties is (yellow card, payback, detention, etc)

Where possible always focus on that they should be learning and doing the tasks as instructed. It helps to get out of their mind that you are the thought police and that you work closely with the teachers and confirms that you are at the same standing, following the same set of principles and rules.

if you don't have much experience around this area it might be worth talking with some other staff to make sure you are getting it right, without contradicting any of the other staff or them contradicting you.

[localzuk]

Having had this quite often, reprimanding on the spot is not a good move to make - often I've found that it turns out that the teacher basically lets them do what they want in the rooms. So, I can't really go against that, but I can highlight it to my line manager in SMT and have them deal with it, as it is more of teaching issue than one I should deal with.

[DaveP]

1. Make a record the event [with iTalc or similar] if possible.
2. Force student to log off and disable the account.
3. Inform Head of Year.
4. Move on to the next task.

This has been laid down by SLT some time ago.

[bossman]

@all:

Document the whole event after speaking with the class teacher first as they may not have noticed what the student was doing. It is always good to speak with the member of staff regarding the information you have gathered and let them be the person responsible for handing over the information to your PLO officers to deal with.

Also inform your line manager of what procedures you have followed regarding the incident and what the outcome is via the PLO team.

Its good to see it work in real-time hehe!

It does work very effectively as long as everyone is aware of the procedures.

[Admiral208]

I think it very much depends on the situation.

If I walk past a student and they are on a game when they should be working I'm not going to repremand them during a lesson, thats the teachers job to manage the class. I do however, make a note of the site and filter it immediately.

If they are on a site that is very inappropriate I will tell the teacher and let them deal with it. Then filter the site.

My job is to manage the network, not the students behavior

[Hightower]

@all:

Document the whole event after speaking with the class teacher first as they may not have noticed what the student was doing. It is always good to speak with the member of staff regarding the information you have gathered and let them be the person responsible for handing over the information to your PLO officers to deal with.

Also inform your line manager of what procedures you have followed regarding the incident and what the outcome is via the PLO team.

Its good to see it work in real-time hehe!

It does work very effectively as long as everyone is aware of the procedures.

But that needs everyone in school to be on board with that procedure, which doesn't always work like that, especially in some schools. My guess is there isn't a 'one fits all' answer here.

[bossman]

But that needs everyone in school to be on board with that procedure, which doesn't always work like that, especially in some schools. My guess is there isn't a 'one fits all' answer here.

@Hightower you may well indeed be on the button there, I was just giving people the benefit of how I would deal with it in our school or any member of my team or for that matter any member of staff in our school.

Students only respond to consistency, this is where good procedure has to be maintained and the only way to deal with this is with everyone aware of the correct procedure to follow.

This may or not happen in all schools but consistency is the key to behaviour and as we are a restorative school banning anyone from using our IT is out of the question.

[Oaktech]

I will only speak directly to a student if i can see them interfering with hardware because i consider this to be a h&s issue. Anything else i notice is reported immediately to the class teacher and to my line manager.

[AngryTechnician]

As others have hinted, I would follow whatever the school policy is.

All schools should have a clear policy on what action should be taken and by whom. Consult your line manager, or if you don't get a satisfactory response, someone on SMT such as a head of year or deputy headmaster.

[Hightower]

@Hightower you may well indeed be on the button there, I was just giving people the benefit of how I would deal with it in our school or any member of my team or for that matter any member of staff in our school.

Sorry, just with the way it start @all​ it seemed like you meant everyone should do it that way