Teachers worried about CCTV
Updated on 18 August 2008
Almost a quarter of teachers are worried about "hidden" surveillance cameras in their schools.
A survey of nearly 250 primary and secondary school teachers found that more than eight in ten have CCTV in their school and more than half say it makes them feel safer.
But 23.4 per cent are concerned that there may be cameras hidden in school buildings that staff and pupils are not aware of.
The survey, conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), found that 46.7 per cent of teachers said they would behave differently if they knew that CCTV was operating in classroom they were teaching in.
Nearly two-thirds said they did not know what security measures their school had for CCTV cameras - in terms of storing the data and restricting its use.
The general consensus was that while CCTV has its benefits, classroom surveillance is an invasion of privacy and disrupts education.
While 97.6 per cent said CCTV was primarily used for security purposes, half said it was used for monitoring pupil behaviour.
An additional 16 per cent said it was used for controlling student behaviour and 10.4 per cent said CCTV was used to control truancy.
Seven in ten said it was used to monitor and control vandalism.
Tonia Matthews, a teacher at Trinity secondary school in West Berkshire, said: "Students feel secure to know if there has been an incident, for instance, bullying. We can then go back and look what happened."
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said: "No one really knows enough about the use of CCTV in schools - it's a very new issue. We have set up a working group to look into the use of CCTV and produce ATL guidelines on best practice for schools and colleges throughout the UK.
"Certainly we would want staff to be involved in decisions about the use of CCTV in schools, and strict safeguards for its use. Although surveillance in schools can have some positive outcomes, such as discouraging vandalism and violence, we think there are some instances where it should be strictly controlled."
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