In a survey of student resource officers in the United States, over 41% of officers stated that they had dealt with cases of students using cell phones for improper usage (cheating on tests, taking photos in locker rooms or restrooms, etc.) during the past school year.

So what are some of the issues of cell phones at school? Let’s touch on a few of them:

Cheating: The use of cell phones for cheating while at school is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. Most notable cases were the 100+ Korean students busted for cheating on the college entrance exams, or the 46 Thai students banned after attempting to cheat on a military entrance exam. Many cell phones have online and text messaging capabilities which make cheating easy.

Photos: Many cell phones now have photo-taking capabilities. Students have been caught taking inappropriate pictures in restrooms and locker rooms and then distributing them throughout the school.

Bullying: Perhaps the most widespread and horrible misuse of cell phones at school is for cyber bullying and harassment. Students use cell phones to send mean and threatening messages to others. The biggest problem is that this method of bullying is for the most part untraceable. Many phones are prepaid and bought anonymously. This provides bullies with the perfect means of taunting their target with little fear of being caught.

As a parent or teacher, awareness is one important key to prevention of these issues; education is another. The i-SAFE International Education Program is available to EU member nodes of the Insafe network through online professional development training at http://international.isafe.org, The training allows teachers to stay a step ahead of their students and bring to the classrooms world class educational materials.

Janeane Laiderman, i-SAFE