The Geelong Times has just published a story that makes a very clear point in law - teachers can be held legally responsible for cyber-bullying in the classroom.
Geelong Times - 07/11/2011
CYBER bullying is not just an issue for students, with schools and teachers increasingly under pressure to act on any report or face being sued.
Coulter Roache partner Martin Reid, who practises in workplace relations, said bullying did not have to happen in the classroom for the school to be taken to civil court.
He said both schools and teachers owed students a "duty of care" and could be held liable if they were aware a student was being bullied online by another student at any hour of the day or night and did nothing about it.
"The laws are effectively the same as personal injury laws," Mr Reid said.
"If somebody slips on water at the supermarket and suffers a broken hip, they can sue because the supermarket was negligent in cleaning up the water.
"It's the same if a student is being bullied on Facebook by a fellow student and the school is aware of it, but they do nothing about it.
"It's the general law of negligence ... you must establish there was a duty of care, that it was breached, the student suffered harm and the risk of harm was foreseeable, and the harm was caused by the breach"
Mr Reid said the rise in Facebook and other social media forums was making it increasingly hard for schools to monitor student behaviour.
He said it was important to remember teachers would not be liable if the bullying occurred outside school hours and they were not made aware of it.
In Victoria, there is yet to be a court decision in which a teacher has been held liable for cyber bullying between students.
However, Mr Reid said many schools were aware of the risks and had policies in place to deal with them ...
You can read the full article here
You can read detailed analysis of the issues raised in this article in Smoothwall's e-Safety Law in Education whitepapers that have been developed by the eminent lawyer Dr. Brian Bandey. You can also discuss many other related issues with fellow professionals in E-Safey in Education LinkedIn Forum.
