Differential rights consciousness: Teachers’ perceptions of privacy in the surveillance school
Title: Differential rights consciousness: Teachers’ perceptions of privacy in the surveillance school
Author: Michael Birnhack, Lotem Perry-Hazan
Journal: Teaching and Teacher Education
Affiliation: Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, Department of Leadership and Policy in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa
Abstract: This article explores the rights consciousness of teachers as agents having a professional obligation to promote students’ rights. The case study comprises Israeli teachers, whose social status is low, in the context of school CCTV surveillance. Based on 55 interviews, the findings revealed three clusters of perceptions: dismissing students’ privacy as a discrete consideration in assessing school surveillance; acknowledging students’ privacy as a discrete consideration; and merging students’ and teachers’ privacy. Almost all teachers considered their own privacy. Our conclusions focus on teachers who had differential rights consciousness and alluded to privacy justifications only when they concerned their own rights.
Key words: Teachers’ rights consciousness, Teachers’ social status, Students’ rights, School surveillance, Privacy, Perspective-taking
