To think personal smartphones have no place in the classroom?

[Lookingforastronauts]

After trying to find DS new schools mobile phone policy, and failing after 20 mins searching online. Am I being unreasonable to think that mobile phones should be off and out of sight, or collected in a box at the start of a lesson (I suppose infection control prevents this atm)

DS complained about being bored in class because everyone had been asked to login to Google Classroom on their smart phone. He said he was bored and embarrassed because he didn't have one and had nothing to do.

Surely if this is part of lesson delivery the school should provide them?

They're sticklers for uniform, surely these rules should apply to phones as well?

It feels discriminatory to me.

I think children age 11 and 12 should not be having unsupervised Internet access and for this reason I will not be buying my child a smartphone.

You, as the parent can control access to the internet. Most schools allow access only to their school wifi when on school site, which will have restrictions re SM, porn etc. As a parent, it's up to you to set up access controls on your home broadband connection - most providers allow you to block unsuitable content. As a parent, you can control the phone's capability to access mobile internet data. So, you, as parent, can set how your child accesses the internet, i.e. at home you turn on the filters, at school, the school wifi should be safe anyway, etc. How about parents take responsibility???

Just to blow the minds of some people even more, for GCSE and A level years, our son's school instructed pupils to bring in their own devices as a mandatory requirement, i,e, laptop or tablet as they moved over to online textbooks, online tests, online worksheets, etc in many subjects. Pupils who didn't have a suitable device were loaned one, funded by the school's "friends of" charity.

@Lookingforastronauts

I clearly am out of touch of day to day to teaching and I'm shocked.

My high school days were blighted by serious sexual bullying and I'm only grateful smartphones did not exist in those days. I think children age 11 and 12 should not be having unsupervised Internet access and for this reason I will not be buying my child a smartphone. Most of my sons peers are regularly using apps inappropriate for their age. Also many kids do not have the self control at that age (nor indeed some adults) needed for addicted phone use not to get the better of them. And that's before you get the harm camera algorithms and filters have on self image. I really can't see myself being persuaded that smartphones for young teens/preteens are an overall positive.

Also, another kid smashed my child's phone at school yesterday. So that's another reason I will not be buying him an expensive device.

This post is just dripping with judgement.

So much negativity about young people and so many assumptions about other people which come from your own fear of technology .

I love the fact that DC secondary school has incorporated phones into the teaching and only control how phones are used not banned them. There are a few tablets kids can use, but for lots of things, own phones are handy for learning. It has been very handy when DC forgot PE kit or felt ill or were asked at very short notice to go to a sports match so would miss the last bus (admittedly that won't happen for a year or 2 I guess in future) that they could just msg us to let us know.

DC paid for own phones out of pocket money. No breakages, no thefts.

Funny to read discussion about using personal numbers for work... I had to argue about being allowed to use my personal mobile number for some projects. This was treated as an important safety issue. I'm a grown woman age 50+, I can shrug off weirdos quite easily. It was like the project approvers had no clue that numbers of awful people can simply be blocked on a mobile.

ps: DC paid for own phones so only as expensive as they were willing to risk.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable.
I don’t think teachers should become more reliant on resources that not all pupils have access to. Until every single child in the uk has a smart phone, it’s more discrimination and disadvantage in access to education for those who don’t.

What am I assuming neon jumper?

@Lookingforastronauts why doesn’t school provide them? Same reason that they don’t provide his green tinted glasses (essential to stop him losing his place roughly every 20th letter), there isn’t enough money in the budget. He can have a dictaphone from the SEND team, but won’t use that as it draws attention to his SpLD.
As a family we have to budget to supply the things he needs, just as many families with children who have SEND need to.

Normal in my dc’s school. They are allowed to use their phones for research, calculations, photos etc. You can buy a smart phone for less than £50 these days, it doesn’t need to be an expensive device.

@tootiredtothinkofanewname the fact you think schools can afford to take Polaroid photos tells me all I need to know tbh. £15 quid for 8 photos. Wow.

[quote Pangur2]@SoVeryLost yeah I have never worked for a school that has provided me with any sort of tech. I have access to a desktop computer in my art room and the art office and that is it. Some posters live in another world. Most teaching jobs don’t provide you with your own mobile phone and tablet haha! And if they did they would probably be crap. (The mobile phones we borrow for trips are almost unusable.)[/quote]
I’ve had to use my own phone for trips. As a technology teacher I was issued a laptop but I was the only one.

Why the hell would anyone chose to use 1940s technology (Polaroid’s) over a modern computer

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable. I don’t think teachers should become more reliant on resources that not all pupils have access to. Until every single child in the uk has a smart phone, it’s more discrimination and disadvantage in access to education for those who don’t.

You would be surprised by those who have a smart phone. It’s often the better off parents who resist giving their children smart phones.

When ds1 started high school 7 years ago I was told he would need his smartphone to interact with the white board etc. Bit of a shock but went with it. Now though (hes left but I have another there) they arent allowed to have their phones out even at lunch or break time.
I can see why schools want to incorporate them into learning but not ever child has a phone so I wouldn't bring it in until year 10/11 personally.

@tootiredtothinkofanewname or I could just get the kids to take the photos themselves on their own phone, so they have access to the photo when they need it. My school allows it; why would I add in extra steps (uploading to the school system, waiting for the kids to access the system and download their photo) when I don’t have to? You still haven’t given me a good reason why we shouldn’t do this. If a kid doesn’t have a phone I’ll use a camera, but that rarely happens with yr 9 and up anyway.

As a teacher I embrace technology. I’m off to edit some animated resources I made for my students, using an iPad, Apple Pencil, ProCreate, AirPods and Premiere Pro. 🤭 Hopefully society doesn’t collapse when I put them on YouTube for the students to access when they want to.

I completely agree, but how useless must his teacher be not to notice he doesn’t have one so can’t do the exercise?!

I think a lot of schools have embraced them because it’s trendy to look like you’re onboard with technology being the future etc, but I think many kids have way too much screen time anyway and are struggling to learn to interact without screens so they need a space where there aren’t any. The number of times I see a family with another family or friends at a restaurant/cafe/pub where the kids are all sat on iPads or phones and not really interacting with each other or the adults makes me sad. I don’t think those kids can actually be enjoying themselves, but it’s a crutch they can use when they’re bored or shy or nervous, but then they’ll struggle to develop those skills and build those relationships if the phone is always always there as a crutch. I think schools have plenty of tools at their disposal without using individual pupils‘ phones too.

My DH doesn't have a work phone and has to use his personal phone for work. Major UK bank.

Embrace the world in 2020 OP and get him a smart phone.

I agree with you op and I'm surprised at the comments here.
It's not ok for a school to assume everyone has a smart phone and to base lesson plans around this.

SoVeryLost

I didn’t comment on the reason why the child might not have a phone. I just said to plan lessons assuming pupils have this piece of kit, when not all of them do, disadvantages those pupils. I don’t think it makes a difference whether the parents can afford it or not. If a kid doesn’t have one in their hand, they’re excluded from the learning and I think that’s wrong.

Most kids have phones.
No, they don't.

There is a ton of stuff out there that can support learning in lessons.
So why bother with a classroom?

If not all students have phones, we double them up.
That is neither fair on the student without a phone or the student who has to share.

I agree OP. Phones have no place in the classroom.