Age uk states the following:
5.3 million adults have never used the internet and 0.9 million have used it but not in the past 3 months.
The office of national statistics:
99% of 16-34 year olds recently used the internet
97% of 35-54 year olds recently used the internet
The figure only drops below 90% for people over the age of 65. Which i suspect is the figure Age UK are quoting.
Letâs not forget the 3.9million under 5s who - it could be perceived - not have access to the internet or use of a computer.
That plus @Intruders stats could be rounded up to 10million to broadly justify digital discrimination!
While many have access to the internet via their smart phones, how many have access to a PC and a printer? How many times do cadets come to you and say they can only print stuff out in school?
Why not indeed!!!
That would be a step towards informed consent and be the start to deal with the problem.
Having read all the posts about internet access, you canât say just say tough, but placing documents on line, with a system to deal with people who arenât on line (ie, printing it off at the Squadron on the odd occasion) shows you have made an effort to inform the people giving consent.
This needs to be made more clear to the people who design the TG21 and related forms. They need to support the people who are using them!!
Look at informed consent from a different viewpoint, PPI! People signed for stuff they did not understand or were mis-sold. The banks have had to compensate people! Itâs the same principle!!
ONS report ob computer literacy. .
Then add in the language and cultural differences in particular when the child may speak excellent coloquial English but their parents linguistic skills are poor and their comprehension even worse.
So youâve made it up?
Be careful you donât start treating parents of cadets like idiots, they are more aware of things than you seem to think.
By the time our kids were in Yr8 they had been on school residentials, one of them went to a centre parks in Belgium, school trips doing all manner of things, not to mention family holidays and other things so they are a lot more clued up than you seem to give them credit for. Do they sue people if little Janet or John gets injured, not in my experience. Also parents are people of the world and accept that things change, unlike some of the people we seem to have in the ATC at all levels it seems.
I was once the subject of an attempted legal action, brought against me by the parent of a cadet who injured themselves whilst on a camp. True story
You must be in a very small club.
You are very lucky then!!
I am not suggesting that parents are âidiotsâ, I am saying that they are, in many cases, ignorant of what they are signing for! To make the form even more generic, signed once when their child joins and tell the parents âDonât worry, we as the experts know what we are doing!â brings on a massive legal and moral minefield.
Information is the key here! Many of us have complained a lot on other posts on ACC about âexpertsâ making decisions for us. Why would parents be any different?
I am not trying to increase the paperwork burden, as I am just trying to suggest that the form we already use is not fit for purpose and needs to be adapted to closer fit individual circumstances!!
Another example⌠When the parent signs the 3822 main consent form, they have choices on what they want their child to do, mainly around flying and publicity. If they tick no to one of those boxes, it is recorded on SMS. Who then looks at that ever again afterwards? Say the parent says they donât want their child to fly in foreign military aircraft when they join. Then the cadet goes to RIAT and has a chance to fly in a US Chinook as a passenger, with the rest of their friends. Would the Adult in Charge know about that the initial 3822 that says no flying in foreign aircraft? Does the TG21 for RIAT stipulate that flights in foreign aircraft may happen? (That is a genuine question as I donât know!) The cadet trips and breaks his ankle getting into the plane, no ones fault, just an accident! How do you explain that to the parent who has said no on the consent form signed a long time ago? Has their decision changed learning more about the organisation and not wanting their child to miss out? All this could be cleared up with a specific consent form!
Of course you canât state and cover all eventualities, but you can be sensible!! Which is what I am trying to promote ( and ranting too!
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I would query something like that at the first instance when we get the 3822a back, like I do if the no photography box is ticked. I put the point across that while we can do it when photographing but outside of that we have no control over who takes and how photos are used. So I would explain it like that for aircraft. Mind you I put a briefing note together for camps etc with as much detail as possible, with a caveat that we may do things not listed.
Would you cover food as parents might not like their kids eating certain things.
That is already in the form!!
So you are informing the parents and the TG21 they are signing for your activities is more valid because of that! That could be the reason no one has complained about consent to you!!
Does it include McD, BK, KFC etc or sweets or food from a chip shop, all of which Iâve known. Although the cadets were up front and we had to find something else for them
If they have mentioned it on a consent form and it is sensible, then you should try, within reason, to adhere to those requests
ah but does this also include having only ÂŁ10 to get home from camp with the âneedâ for two meals to purchase and no means to get money out??
You clearly havenât seen the attitude to court closures. Incubusâs answers are exactly the same ones deployed when defendants ask how they can get to court when we closed all of their local ones.
Itâs a terrible issue when youâre tallâŚ
