Schools use virtual reality to tackle gang culture

Schools in Birmingham are using virtual reality (VR) to teach children about the dangers of criminal exploitation and gang culture.

Pupils at Rockwood Academy, Alum Rock, have been immersed into a life-like environment where they watch how social media can influence people to become involved with gangs and violence.

The technology tasks the students to make decisions as to how they would react in before being shown the consequences.

The workshops were launched by the arts organisation Virtual Decisions in partnership with West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership, to help young people avoid crime.

Sami Neale from Virtual Decisions said rather than using worksheets and Powerpoints, VR helps students relate to the environment where crimes takes place.

"We bring in a virtual reality headset to show students real young people, in real world environments, where they understand the fashion and the language.

"If they can see a situation play out in somewhere that they recognise, they are more likely to engage with the workshop and it's more likely to have an impact on them", Ms Neale added.

The workshops will take place across Washwood Heath after a number of community consultations highlighted concerns about gangs and knife crime.

"I think it's a great opportunity for others to experience these type of situations and not do it in real life", Adnan, 13, said.

"I learnt to not accept stuff from strangers", Deb, 11, added.

"I think they should do this in every school so we can see what is happening in actual life", she said.

"It helped me to make better decisions in my future", Adnan said.

He added that using VR made him think about how to keep safe and make sure he would "do the right thing".

Headteacher Richard Reeve said all schools had a responsibility to educate young people about knife and gang-related crime.

"We like to be at the forefront of all aspects of safeguarding and it was very important to have this workshop so they can learn in quite a special and innovative way", Mr Reeve added.

Warwickshire Police have also used VR technology to show educational films to boys and young men in schools, colleges and universities, highlighting some of the negative experiences girls and women have.

Det Sup Jill Fowler said the force's VR project aimed to "spark meaningful conversations and encouraging reflection" in order to "drive cultural change".

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