For several weeks, they spied on what was happening at school. “It’s not just the class that was recorded. What was said in the teachers’ room also because once a week, all the schoolbags are placed there before the students don’t go to gym class. Discussions between management and the teaching team about parents or children were recorded without everyone knowing.continues Fabian Diels.
“Parents rois”
According to the teacher, nothing justified such behavior, especially since the parents’ other children are also enrolled in this school. “There is a distrust of education. Everyone has been through school. What could parents have gone through to get there?”asks the trade unionist. “When you choose a school and a team, you trust them.”
Now in the classroom, teachers find not only students but also… parents. At the profile level, teachers find parents who are overprotective, navel-gazing, egocentric, racist, in bad faith, liars, naive (to the point of believing everything the child says), violent, impulsive, aggressive, rude and insolent, cheeky , without embarrassment, subjective, intrusive, who send emails every day, who denounce harassment when it comes to “simple arguments”, who victimize the child aggressor, resign, who approve absenteeism with medical certificates, who think that the child is HP… The qualifiers are numerous and illustrate a phenomenon that a director calls “parents kings”.
“It happens more and more often that teachers are filmed. The microphone is a higher step which is not so surprising unfortunately. This reflects the way in which the profession is considered”reacts Luc Toussaint, general secretary of CGSP-Enseignement.
Legal?
The teacher made a statement to the police. “Technology allows things we didn’t think possible. Legislation and internal regulations never allow this type of thing to be foreseen. There are going to be deviations, I fear that it will only get worse. We need to realize what is happening in class. We reach a milestone each time, when will the spy camera come? “, Fabian Diels is alarmed.
The parents promised not to use the recordings but is this method really legal? “A patient recording their doctor or a client recording their lawyer in a conversation between them is considered legal. Recording everything that happens through a microphone without participating yourself to the conversation is illegal. There could be an exception if the aim is to demonstrate the existence of an offense but this must be authorized by a magistrate and not done on the initiative of people who want to demonstrate an offense.explains Nathalie Gallant, criminal lawyer. “As evidence, the recordings will be rejected because it was not collected in a lawful manner. The simple act of recording may already constitute a criminal offense even if it is not used.”
In any case, if the parents are reassured and assured that their daughter will not suffer any consequences, the trust is on the other hand broken on the side of the teaching team. “Until the end of school, teachers will wonder if they are being spied on.”insists Fabian Diels.
