Blogs and tweets give children a vital voice

Her blog, NeverSeconds, has attracted colossal interest. It is a straightforward daily account of what she has had for her school lunch, with her honest and clearly articulated personal comments. The blog is not at all abusive. While it is occasionally critical, it is also often very positive.

Argyll and Bute Council’s response was to ban Martha taking from photos for the blog for “misrepresenting the options and choices available to pupils” and “making unwarranted attacks on its school catering service” – an object lesson in how to make a media mountain out of a local molehill, which the council has learned the hard way, reversing its ban.

The reality is that almost everything we do in the public sector is subject to immediate public scrutiny and discussion – and this includes comment by children and young people. Whether we like it or not, students tweet about their lectures, children in care blog about their children’s homes, and pupils use Facebook to share perceptions of their teachers. And we can’t stop it – attempts at authoritative control just don’t work. We can block a Facebook page, an abusive website or tweet, but they too often pop up somewhere else.

We must respond to online abuse and bullying, including complaints to service providers, and legal action. But what Martha’s blog tells us is that children and young people are well able to use the new communications media effectively and properly, without resorting to personal abuse and foul language.

Far from discouraging such practices, we should actively welcome it, for two reasons. First, it encourages children and young people to write creatively and to learn about the new forms of e-communication in a positive way – what’s more, there’s nothing wrong in using this learning to teach them about the use and abuse of the internet. And second, we can get brilliant feedback from children and young people on what they really think about what we are doing for them – giving them a real and powerful voice. Well done, Martha, and keep on blogging.

John Freeman CBE is a former director of children’s services and is now a freelance consultant  

Read his blog at cypnow.co.uk/freemansthinking