Camera/video phones in schools: law and practice

The emergence of mobile phones with built-in digital cameras is creating legal and ethical concerns for school systems throughout the world. Users of such phones can instantly email, print or post pictures to other MMS1 1. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Services. MMS is frequently used to send photos from camera phones to other MMS phones or email addresses. View all notes phones or websites. Local authorities and schools in Britain, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and elsewhere have introduced outright bans on their use because of the problems or risks they pose if misused. Risks concerned with pupils surreptitiously photographing other pupils in changing rooms or photographing examination papers are obvious examples. The article examines some worldwide examples of the misuse of camera phones in schools and the issues and problems that emerged. A landmark decision concerning the European Data Privacy Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) in the case of Bodil Lindqvist by the European Court of Justice is explored and the implications for camera phones considered. The article concludes by stating that because of their ubiquity and social potency, it is probably a mistake and an overreaction for education authorities or schools to introduce blanket bans on the possession of camera phones. Rather they need to devise sensible agreements and policies on camera phone usage.     

The 'Bad Mother' in Media and Legal Texts

Mothers who kill or injure their children highlight crucial disjunctions between the status ‘mother’ and the practices and expectations of mothering. Failures of ‘mothering’ reconstruct the meaning of the maternal, while being themselves given meaning by it. Violent mothers may be pathologised and excused, demonised and condemned, but the explanatory narratives that are used draw centrally on notions of the maternal and, more broadly, the feminine. These discourses are reproduced in legal proceedings and sentences, and in the media reports of these proceedings. This paper will analyse the construction of the bad mother in legal proceedings in one prominent recent Victorian case, and in the print media reports of this case.     

Privacy rights in the classroom: Peer grading Supreme Court judgment 2002

The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo that the practice of students grading each other's work and then calling out the marks does not violate the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) 1974. The Court reversed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals (10th Circuit). The judgment came in the case of a mother, Kristja Falvo, who objected to the practice of peer grading and recording in elementary schools. She felt that the practice was a violation of FERPA. Student grades, she argued, were an education record and should not be released to others in the class without a parent's permission. However, the Supreme Court ruled that such grades did not satisfy the definition of an 'education record' under FERPA. The judgment is significant. Teachers' organisations and bodies representing administrators welcomed the decision.     

The illegal narcotics trade in southern Africa: A programme for action

The current policy arena with regard to drugs in South Africa is in a state of transition. Yet the burden of harm associated with drug use and the increased usage that has accompanied our changing situation necessitate, it is argued, a comprehensive drug control strategy. The paper provides an overview of previous attempts to address the problem in South Africa and presents the case for a ‘master plan’. It outlines a wide‐ranging set of factors that need to be considered, including the necessity to go beyond ‘control’ strategies to more pro‐actively dealing with demand, a move which should be underpinned by quality research.