Sexting and the Consequences for Schools

To mark the launch of Safer Internet Day 2016, Webwise, the internet safety initiative of the Professional Development Service for Teachers, hosted a symposium on ‘Sexting and the Consequences for Schools’.

The purpose of the symposium was to support schools dealing with the complex issues around explicit self-generated images of minors. There were inputs from curriculum, policy, legal, and law enforcement experts.

Watch the full symposium above or view the individual segments below.

Legal, law enforcement and policy experts spoke on underage sexting

Brian Hallissey BL gave an overview of the legal framework around sexting and outlined important considerations for schools, when dealing with incidents of sexting. Superintendent Colette Quinn, Director of the Youth Diversion Programme, spoke about how An Garda Siochana handle cases of sexting in schools and how the law is enforced when minors are involved.

Helen Ryan, Secretary with the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU), spoke about the information and support that young people need on the topic of sexting.

Helen Ryan (ISSU) made an impassioned plea for school leaders and policy makers to “start the conversation” on what can be done about harmful non-consensual sexting.

Law Reform Commissioner, Finola Flanagan, spoke about how the criminal and civil law needs to be updated and adjusted to deal effectively with sexting and other unfortunate consequences of new technologies. Brian Murray, PDST Health and Wellbeing Team Leader, introduced Lockers, the new SPHE resource on the sharing of explicit self-generated images launched at the event.

A panel discussion on how to deal with sexting in schools was chaired by Newstalk presenter, Orla Barry. Representatives from the NAPD, the JMB and the PDST were joined in this discussion by classroom teachers from Confey College and Muckross Park College.