Confidentiality or Bullying?

By Tina Rader

The practice of confidentiality is commonly used in professional communities and industries everywhere. While differing professional groups might have different criterion for what information is kept confidential there is agreement that information about the client/patient/ consumer is to be shared with that person. There is agreement that a team of professionals might meet to discuss their ideas regarding what they might plan/offer/suggest to the individual but at no time are treatment plans/ therapeutic decisions or direction undertaken without consultation or discussion with the client.

The one glaring exception to the accepted standard practice of confidentiality exists in the educational system. Our schools have a notion of confidentiality that is directly contradicting the principle that informs other professional practices. Take the common practice of holding "Parent Teacher" meetings. Parents meet with the student's teacher and discuss that student's performance and progress. Teachers and parents devise strategies for managing difficulties whether learning or behavioral without the benefit of the student's input. Students are not only uninvited to these meetings, parents are instructed that their child or youth are not to attend.

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