I like this idea. I doubt that many, if any, parents would spend the entire day watching their kids and teacher on camera, but a teacher and classroom knowing that at any particular time it is possible that they may observed might keep students and teachers a little more in line. I know that when I was teaching I was a little more careful and more professional when I was being observed (in person, whether by the headmaster, a parent or other teachers) than I might have been otherwise. As a student I might have behaved a little better knowing that I my parents (or someone else’s) might be watching me at any particular time.
Pedophiles could get no greater information by viewing these cameras (assuming that they would have access) than they could get by simply sitting in their cars outside the school and watching the kids. I think that concern is overblown.
There have been some comments about academic freedom being somehow infringed by the presence of cameras. I don’t get that one. Teachers and students are no more or less free to express themselves if cameras are present, unless the point is to be able to express oneself without others knowing about it. What might one want to express in a classroom that one wouldn’t want anyone else to know about? Couldn’t the teacher or others in the class tell anyone they wanted to outside of the class? Or is the concern that what goes on in the classroom might be ACCURATELY communicated to others, so that deniability is eliminated?
These cameras might provide some comfort to some parents as to what is going on in class. They might serve as an obstacle to some of the outrageous actions by teachers and students we hear about in class. Finally, the presence of the cameras might provide for evidence of wrongful actions in the classroom that might otherwise go unpunished because a teacher could not see what happened and students afraid to tell on others.
I could be persuaded otherwise by sound arguments, however.
In my 12 years of working in public education I've seen nothing (in six different school districts), nor heard of anything, which prevents parents to visit their children's classroom in order to gain first hand experience and knowledge of what goes on in the classroom. In fact, this is very often encouraged. If parents do not take the time to come to their child's school, what makes anyone think they will be enticed into watching what goes on in school due to a computer cam? There is also the higher likelihood of students staging an incident because the cam is there in order to get themselves on YouTube, or getting even with a teacher who held them accountable for their behavior. The detriments to the learning process far outweigh the benefits IMHO. A parent wanting to know about their child's education can come visit the school anytime.