Report: Lillian Leptos
The purpose of the VCAL Personal Development Skills strand is to develop student knowledge, skills and attributes that lead to self-development and community engagement. It focuses on the skills our students need to successfully undertake their family, social, community and environmental responsibilities. On a personal development level, the course is designed to develop individuals’ resilience, self-esteem and efficacy, their health and wellbeing and their capacity to positively participate in a democratic society.
With these outcomes in mind, the Year 11 PDS class has been examining the social, legal and personal consequences and dangers of sexting. This risk taking activity is increasingly engaged in by young people, for a wide variety of reasons, without an understanding of the dire and wide-ranging consequences that might follow.
Armed with their knowledge from their classwork, our Year 11 class road tested their knowledge by taking part in an interactive workshop run at the Old Melbourne Gaol historic magistrates’ court. The workshop drama was a fictionalised account of cases that have actually taken place in the Children’s Court.
The students stepped into the roles of perpetrator (played by Jye), police, parents, friends, lawyers and court officials to enact some of the legal consequences of sexting. They spoke their parts dramatically and convincingly. Of the experience, the students said:
Amir: “The formal atmosphere of the court setting changed everything. We all felt it was really serious and I got the chills sitting up there as the magistrate.”
Zein: “It was like we were really in a trial and we stepped into the roles. I was the accused boy’s coach and I had to give a character reference.”
Dylan: “I was the police prosecutor and I had to take a hard line. You could tell from my voice that I believed that the accused should have got a custodial sentence and be listed on the sex offenders register.”
Monique: “I was the defence barrister and my job was to agree that my client had done a terrible and damaging thing, but to also say that his whole life shouldn’t be ruined by this terrible mistake.”
At the end of the presentations, the students, like the magistrate, had to make a choice as to the most appropriate outcome. They voted and there was a clear split between those wanting a severe punishment and those wanting to give the accused some punishment but not so severe an outcome that his whole life and employment opportunities would be affected.