While sharing suggestive images or text messages can appear as innocent fun to some young people, sexting can have serious social and legal consequences. The making, taking, permitting to be taken, showing, possession and/or distribution of indecent images of minors is a criminal offence; so schools need to be very careful about how they handle such incidents.
For school leaders, it is important to be well informed when encountering incidents involving the sharing of explicit images in their school. When self-created sexual images are shared non-consensually, the repercussions can seriously undermine the well-being of students. Malicious sharing can take the form of cyber bullying while abusive sharing could indicate a child protection concern. This workshop will use video content, group work and case studies to:
- Outline the legal framework around sexting and the important legal considerations for schools
- Update school policy in-light of this practice and the relevant legal considerations.
- Provide guidance for school leaders on how to deal effectively with sexting incidents.
- Outline the role of the school in promoting awareness and in helping prevent the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
- Showcase a series of lessons which deal with sexting and non-consensual sharing of explicit images and which are underpinned by the principles of the SPHE curriculum.
- Give participants opportunities to work in groups to explore how best to deal with incidents in schools.
All workshop participants are given a free copy of the Lockers education resource. This new information and education resource assists schools in coping with and preventing the sharing of explicit self-generated images of minors.
Duration: Flexible delivery of between 45 minutes and 2.30 hours.
Audience: School leaders, Post-Primary SPHE teachers, Guidance and Pastoral Carers
Outcomes: Updated school policies, detailed procedures for dealing with incidents, strategies and resources for preventing and coping with sexting.
Please get in touch using the CONTACT US form at the bottom of the page if you think we could add value to your event. Send us a description of the event you are organising including details of: the venue, proposed date, number and nature of participants, and the purpose of the event. We get a lot of requests to deliver workshops; unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to do them all up. We prioritise opportunities to speak to networks of educators and school leaders.