Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,

It seems that every year there is a TV show, an app or game that has content which promotes violence or behaviour that impacts upon students of  primary school age. Recently the eSafety Commissioner wrote a blog post entitled Squid Game shows the need to check what your child is watching. 

Coming out of remote learning where we relied heavily on technology, some writers spoke  about questioning the need for face-to-face learning whilst others take the view that technology can be toxic. I think that, if children are left to figure out the technology or choose the content they watch by themselves, then the potential for a toxic online environment is very much a concern and to some extent a danger.

Parenting is tough.  We love our children so much that there are times when we give in, or we think that they are ‘mature’ enough to make decisions themselves. It’s so important for us as parents to always be the adult in the discussions and the decision making that impacts the day to day lives of our children. 

Andy Hargreaves is a professor emeritus at Boston College and a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada. In a recent article he wrote ‘...Psychology professor Jean M. Twenge reported that teenage anxiety levels spiked after smartphones started to saturate the adolescent market in 2012. During the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of 5-year-olds received government-mandated, on-screen instruction that well exceeded the one-hour limit that was recommended pre-pandemic by the American Academy of Pediatrics…’

The partnership between school and home with the management of technology is now more important than ever. Hargreaves goes on to describe what schools (and parents) can   do ‘...retain the uses of technology that offer distinctive benefits, yet ruthlessly eradicate the uses that lead to toxic effects.’ He goes on to describe some actions that we can take to proactively manage a healthy approach to the use of technology and therefore the exposure to appropriate and inappropriate content. A couple of these are outlined below:

• The primacy of schools and teaching. Most children and families need physical schools with in-person teaching and learning. They enable young people to develop identities as members of a community. Frankly, physical schools are also necessary because children’s parents need to go to work. Online learning has a place in all our lives now, but nothing will ever beat the stimulation, relationships, and engagement children get from in-person teaching.
• Unique value proposition. Learning technologies should be adopted when they have a unique value that cannot be addressed in another way. This is true of all learning resources such as manipulatives, books, and conversation. Adapting technologies for students with special needs, collaborating with colleagues across remote rural communities, and transforming assessment such that students, parents, and teachers alike can get instantaneous feedback on student learning—these are some of the digital ways we can enhance teaching and learning. Digital technologies must be employed only where they add unique value, and not, willy-nilly, just because they are there.
• Risk management. Strategies of educational-technology use must address risks. These include excess screen time, digital addiction, adolescent anxieties about online identities, algorithms that reinforce in-group prejudices as well as personal preferences, excessive student surveillance, and displacement of valuable non-digital activities, such as outdoor play and sleep….

The idea that technology use displaces the non-digital activities that are so important for the growth and development of children is quite alarming. Technology use in schools is an ever evolving process. Technology use at home is very much the same. As we approach the end of the year, and yet another Christmas holiday period, I urge you to be proactive about what your children are watching, how much time they spend on devices and providing a balance between digital and non-digital activities. 

They’ll thank us for it when they’re older!

As we journey through the week together, with Jesus,

Toni Sillis

Principal