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Introduction and welcome
- [Kate Hepworth, focus group facilitator, to commence introduction to project]
- Acknowledgement of Country
- To begin with, I’m going to explain a short overview of the research project so that we all have a shared understanding of why we’re here today. I’ll then provide some more detail about what we’re hoping to ask you to discuss. If you decide that you no longer want to participate, you’re very welcome to withdraw and you don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why – it’s really important that everyone participates because they want to, not because they feel they have to.
- This focus group will ask questions about your experiences, observations and views as respectful relationships practitioners. To clarify, your deliver of any and all Body Safety Australia programs is respectful relationships education (RRE) work.
- Specifically, we will ask about what you’ve observed about attitudes about gender norms expressed by young people and adult members of school communities, and your views on what these attitudes might tell us about the influence of social media and internet algorithms. The aim is to create a foundational resource that can advocate for future work in the primary prevention space that is timely, effective and centres the needs of children and young people.
- You don't have to have experienced a disclosure from a child about AI-generated image-based abuse to contribute. In this discussion we will ask you about:
- what you have observed about attitudes towards gender norms expressed by young people in teaching RRE
- your views on what these attitudes might tell us about the influence of social media and internet algorithms
- reflections on the use of generative AI and how this impacts RRE programs.
- To clarify, when we are asking questions about AI in this session, we are predominantly interested in the forms of AI that can be used to enact image-based abuse – for example, deepfakes and nudify apps, rather than text-based AI tools such as ChatGPT.
- We expect the sessions to go for two hours maximum including short breaks.
- You do not have to respond to any question you are not comfortable answering and may request to take breaks or step out any point. Participation is voluntary so you may withdraw at any time. If you do participate, you are under no obligation to divulge any information or opinions if you are concerned it will jeopardise your standing at work.
- [Hazel Donley, Respect Victoria co-investigator, to introduce herself]
- Before we set the expectations of the session, can we please go around the table and everyone introduce yourselves, including name, pronouns and your role.
- Before we begin, we need to set some ground rules.
Setting expectations of session
- [Kate to provide Participant Information and Consent Form to potential participants ahead of time to screen out anyone not comfortable in participating, but this will be reiterated]
- This session will be recorded and transcribed for analysis. Once transcribed, the recordings will be deleted for your privacy.
- We ask that within the session, you avoid referring to specific details relating to a school or person that could be identifiable. For example, please avoid referring to a school or student by name or details of an event that otherwise may be identifiable.
- We also ask you to refrain from sharing personal disclosures of violence, abuse or harm in this session. If the conversation that we have today surfaces a need to discuss emotional or psychological wellbeing, including in relation to your own experiences of related issues, please reach out to EAP, helplines or talk to your manager or CEO about other ways we might support you.
- [Explain limits of privacy and confidentiality within the session:]
- No individual participant will be able to be identified in the final report and we will make every effort to redact any potentially identifiable information or comments about a participant, school or specific child.
- This is obviously a small, specialised cohort of practitioners and there is a small chance that people who know you and your work really well might be able to guess at your identity. If you are worried that is a possibility, please speak to Kate or Hazel and we will work with you to make sure that your privacy is protected.
- The recording and transcription of the sessions will be available to Respect Victoria for review.
- Direct quotes from the session may be included in our final report but will not be attributed in ways that will allow identification of individual participants.
- You are asked to keep any and all contributions from the session confidential. Your responses to any component of the session, or choosing not to participate or respond to any question will not impact your standing at work.
- Everyone’s input or opinion is equally valid regardless of role, tenure or experience.
- Kate will lead the discussion and may need to interrupt or redirect the conversation to ensure everyone can speak if they have something to say, or if discussion going off track.
- Hand up if you would like to respond directly.
- Hazel may interject to receive clarification on a statement, e.g. description of program details, clarifying Body Safety Australia language, etc.
- Hazel and Kate may make notes for follow up questions or points that require further elaboration throughout the session.
- [Ask participants to communicate any other expectations or guidelines that they would like in place before we begin that have not been covered]
- [Ask participants if they have any questions on the information shared so far]
During session
- [Proceed through questions in discussion guide]
- [If group is starting to flag in energy/enthusiasm between established breaks, suggest a short decompression break]
- [If participants are interrupting, talking over one another etc., interject to remind them of ground rules]
Discussion questions
Gendered attitudes
- Can you tell me about how you have observed students talk about gender when you are teaching RRE?
- What does this look like in different settings? For example, across age groups, geographic areas, cultural or socio-economic settings?
- Does it vary depending on the space or students?
- Do children and young people express sexism or misogyny in the classroom? If so, how?
- How do their peers typically respond?
The digital world
- What apps or platforms do children and young people discuss using to share images/videos?
- How do they talk about how they use these platforms?
- Have you heard children and young people talk about who they communicate with on these platforms in the context of your work? For example, their schoolfriends, other young people they have met online, or other people they do not know?
- What can you share from these observations?
- How do children and young people respond to your discussion of online/social content in RRE?
- What are some of the common themes that come out of these discussions with students?
- Who are the key social media figures/creators that you use as examples when you teach RRE?
- Who are the key figures that students name in discussions?
- Have you observed gender differences in the way that students discuss their use of technology or social media?
- How often do you have to address discussions of inappropriate content (i.e. violent videos/images, pornography and other age-inappropriate content)?
- Do children and young people talk about barriers that prevent them from discussing what they are seeing and doing online with parents, teachers or other trusted adults?
Taking images, sharing images and AI
- What have your observed about children’s and young people’s understanding of protecting their own safety around taking and sharing images, including of their face?
- What does this look like when taking/sharing images of their friends/peers?
- Has this changed over time?
- Do children and young people talk about using filters when taking and sharing photos of friends/peers?
- If so, how do they talk about it?
- What have you observed about children’s and young people’s understanding of how social media and internet platforms curate the content that they consume?
- For example, do some students understand that algorithms are programmed to provide content that they are likely to engage with, even if they use less technical language to describe how this happens?
- Do you ever need to adapt the way you discuss social media and online engagement because of internet trends, memes or viral challenges? Can you give some examples of what that looks like?
- How often do you observe students using generative AI to create harmful images in schools?
- Is it still relatively uncommon, or do you expect to see or hear of it being used in most classrooms?
- Do students raise discussion of the use of AI when you are delivering RRE programs?
- How prevalent are these discussions?
- Do you think that the frequency of students/teachers raising AI as an issue has changed in say, the past five years?
Parents, carers and teachers
- What are the key questions or concerns that you address with teaching staff around use of social media, AI or image sharing in schools?
- What are the key questions or concerns that you address with parents around the use of social media, AI or image sharing in schools?
Additional reflections
- Given your experience in RRE program delivery, what are your concerns about AI-generated image-based abuse in schools?
- What kinds of extra support would you value to enable you as a practitioner to deliver RRE in schools?
Suggested probes
- How might this discussion look differently when working with older/younger year levels?
- In your experience, is there a gendered difference to how this is perceived?
- How prevalent are discussions of this nature?
- Is this specific to certain settings, or something that you experience across different settings?
- Have you observed changes over time?
- Can you tell me more about ______