When I first started teaching in here, one of the hardest thing for me was to keep anything a student tells you in confidence as secret. We only passed information on if we think what they tell us may endanger their lives. Otherwise it is zipped up! I really feel sorry for parents who are in the dark about the actions of their children because once they reach 16, we cannot pass on any info if our students say their parents do not know what they are doing. The NZ privacy law really should not in my opinion be for young people until at least they are 18 or 21 years old! And they wonder why the teenage suicide rate is one of the highest in the industrialized nations.
Most of my fellow teachers would agree with me that we really do not want to know their students' private lives especially their sex lives but sometimes students are very open and they would tell all and sundry what is going on with their lives or their friends' lives. Once you know, you are somehow obliged if something happens sometime in the future. So I would rather not know if my integrity is at stake. But somehow it will not happen that way because to get your students' respect, you have to bond with them and that would mean you have to share your life and they will share theirs with you and some have quite miserable backgrounds, too.
In the long run I always console myself with the successful students who have left school and lead good and useful lives rather than think about the number of funerals I have attended since coming to New Zealand.....
1 comment:
agree with you there is a black out ... though for a lot of parents I know, try to find out thru their teenager blogs. For as long the activities and pathforward look normal, let go. It is only when things look wierd, the issue of how to manage those delicate situations ... very interesting post , regards
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