Seminar breaks the code of silence
A Safe Schools Seminar entitled “Breaking the Code of Silence” will be at DHS on 10 May.
THE first in a series of day-long seminars to interrogate ways of making schools a safer place for high school learners, will be held at Durban High School on Friday, 10 May from 8am to 3.30pm.
Educators, governing bodies and other stakeholders are looking at starting conversations around improved ways of safe-guarding learners. Working towards achieving this, Durban High School, the Governing Body Foundation, The Guardian and DigiComms, decided on a series of seminars considering different areas of concern, including bullying, inappropriate educator and learner relations, “blessers”, drugs, gangs, social media protocols and infrastructure, among others.
The inaugural seminar will aim to prioritise some of these areas of concern, and as a starting point, will begin the conversation with “Breaking the Code of Silence”.
“It is clear that there are a wide range of social ills that are enabled in South African schools due to the cultures of silence that we inadvertently create and maintain. In many schools, silence is part of the informal ‘Code of Conduct’ and this needs to be broken to make our schools a safer place for all law-abiding citizens,” said Marc Hardwick, founder and managing director of The Guardian.
A carefully-selected panel of speakers and keynotes have been identified,. These include SAMSOSA consultant Luke Lamprecht, who will examine how the education system inadvertently creates a culture of silence in institutions and what can be done to break it. Terence Dowdall will unpack reasons why the learner will not speak out and what can be done to help them, and Hardwick will explain psychological guidelines and legal rules in regards to handling disclosure as a staff member or adult.
After lunch, there will be workshops addressing the plague of the “blessers” culture in SA schools, and safeguarding learners when using social media.
The seminar is open to high school management and educators, as well as governing body members and representative council of learners members. Entry fee includes refreshments and lunch. To book, contact registrations@safeschoolguide.co.za.
The full programme will be available on www.safeschoolguide.co.za.
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