Stockwell Park High School in South London, England has installed close to 100 video cameras to monitor student conduct, the Daily Mail reported July 21.
CCTV cameras were placed in classrooms, hallways and common areas in an extensive network that will cost the school £60,000 per year.
The goal of the surveillance system is to expose misbehaviour and truancy, as well as to record teaching methods in the school, which services “disadvantaged areas.”
Other British schools have installed similar camera systems in classrooms, although Stockwell Park High has 56 in-class cameras while the national average is five.
It’s unfortunate Stockwell Park High chose to resort to a system that assumes so little trust in students. By installing cameras to monitor misbehaviour, the school presumes students will act out.
In-class surveillance cameras overstep the boundary between proper classroom conduct and personal behaviour development. When young students are aware they’re constantly being watched, it may have a negative effect on their psychological development.
Installing video cameras is a band-aid solution that records issues without getting to the bottom of them. It would be more valuable to investigate why misbehaviour occurs at Stockwell Park High. By putting the annual £60,000 towards investing in a breakfast program, making smaller classes or hiring a school psychiatrist, some of the potential underlying causes of behaviour problems would be addressed.
The in-class camera system also teaches students faulty lessons in morality by placing emphasis on the act of being caught. Stockwell Park High students may be paralyzed into good behaviour because they fear observation and punishment, rather than because they understand their actions are wrong.
Student-teacher relations may suffer as a result of the in-class surveillance system. By creating an “us versus them” mentality where teachers and their cameras are the behaviour wardens and students their inmates, it’s likely a less convivial relationship will develop between the two groups.
For hundreds of years, teachers have managed to cope with juvenile misbehaviour in the classroom. We should put more faith in instructors rather than instruments to set students down the right path.
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