New South Wales, Australia, is readying for electronic tracking of students. The system has been reported to be successful in curbing truancy. The tracking, however, records student movements in such detail that it is possible to know when the individual used the washroom:

“…But civil libertarians said the monitoring of students - even on toilet breaks - was going too far. NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said there were better ways for teachers to keep track of students “that don’t require this degree of invasion of privacy”.”

link: Schools adopt swipe cards for toilet breaks

Perhaps students hide in the washrooms. - It seems evident that part of the education budget will be spent on technology and surveillance. Apparently, this is easier than making the curriculum interesting and meaningful. The schools might benefit from finding out why the students want to be away from class. Is it because of personal problems? Are there academic frustrations? Some of that important information might be lost as schools approximate more and more the prison experience.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

Tags: schools, tracking, surveillance, curriculum, privacy, new south wales, truancy