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Over recent articles I have highlighted how difficult teachers’ jobs were becoming, partly due to the ever increasing demands imposed by successive governments, and more so because of the very challenging behaviour problems exhibited by increasing numbers of students. This is a worrying reflection of our society’s intolerances, and of the influences of very negative and destructive social media. This has impacted on schools, especially secondary schools where students have more access to social media. The linked article published by The Press newspaper makes for graphic reading. Unfortunately it is behind the paywall, but I will highlight significant sections for those of you who can’t access it. “Secondary school teachers in New Zealand are witnessing an alarming rise in extremism among students, with young men particularly susceptible to misogynistic ideologies promoted by figures like Andrew Tate. Whether it’s young students strutting around as the “Trump boys”, or submitting social science assignments with ‘trad-wife’ (traditional wife) ideologies, secondary school teacher Paul Stevens said the issue has reached “a tipping point” in the past two years. Teachers now regularly encounter students who have been radicalised through algorithm-driven social media platforms – and some are leaving the profession because of it.” Teenagers, as those who’ve experienced them will know, are hard enough to manage at the best of times, but this has taken things to a new level. Their lack of maturity, experience, and as result, lack of wisdom, makes them very vulnerable to influences, sadly often negative ones. Over the past week the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) – secondary teachers union – held their annual conference in Christchurch. A report entitled “Responding to Extremism in the Classroom: Online Lies and Real World Harm”, was presented at the conference. “The recommendations in the report call on the Ministry of Education to support urgent action due to the rise of misinformation, disinformation, and xenophobia found in a “toxic online culture of masculinity”, posing an “escalating threat” to society, educators and students in Aotearoa. When students use language or terms that are “dog whistles” from the “manosphere” – “this is misogyny, this is hate speech – and it shouldn’t be acceptable in our schools without being challenged,” Stevens said. The manosphere is a term designating a variety of websites, blogs, and online forums that promote toxic masculinity, misogyny and opposition to feminism.” This is serious stuff. I would also argue that there are significant adults in public positions in our country that are also contributing to this. I’m sure you can think of some names. I would hope the Ministry of Education responds to this report; however if their past behaviours are any guide they will shift the problem on to Boards of Trustees and require them to develop policies to manage this situation. As PPTA member Paul Stevens said when presenting the report, establishing requirements for schools to teach media literacy would be a step in the right direction. “A PPTA member spoke at the conference on Tuesday about how young men at her school identified themselves as “Trump boys”. Alongside students making arguments that even a few years ago “society would’ve utterly rejected” Stevens said they were all part of a broader movement which pushes back on feminism. Some female students had also embraced ‘trad-wife’ ideologies that promoted limiting women’s roles to homemaking and child-rearing, Stevens said. These ideologies appeared predominantly in year 9 students, which meant it was ”bound to get worse”, he said.” Having not worked in secondary schools, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for all school staff to deal with this situation. “The ongoing battle with misogyny faced by the predominantly female profession added another layer of pressure driving teachers away. Classroom experiences such as students using coded language from online subcultures or openly dismissing female teachers were “sometimes disguised, but increasingly undisguised”, Stevens said. Some teachers are leaving the profession partly due to these challenges, following patterns seen in Australia and the UK, he said.” If schools aren’t assisted in meaningful ways, other than the usual ‘toss the problem back to the schools’ approach of the Ministry of Education, the situation can only get worse. However given Erica Stanford’s single minded focus on academic subjects in the proposed revamp of NCEA, I’m not hopeful. Notably, unlike nearly all of her predecessors as Minister of Education, Stanford declined the invitation to speak at the conference. This seems to be the norm for this government. Are we back on track yet?
