Ban on mobile phones in schools

[bytheby]

Gavin Williams has proposed this and announced a 6 week consultation. Does anyone know how we can feed into the consultation?

I am in favour. In fact I don't think children/teens need phones at all. If people are worried about safety walking home then there should be a simple phone with a map function and ability to call available.

I am a sensible adult and I find it difficult to control my own mobile phone use so how can we expect children to.

Children accessing porn. Children unable to 'switch off'/addicted to screens. Children being contacted by older strangers. Children having unrealistic images of how they 'should' look pushed onto them by social media. Children unable to escape school bullying (or just a break from their peers) at home. Children losing the ability to converse. Children more anxious than ever. etc etc.

If your childhood was pre mobile phones do you think it honestly would have been improved by having one?!

Anyway, if anyone knows how to become a part of the consultation please let me know! I have googled to no avail.

@DDiva

The thing is these teenagers in a few years will be at college/work/uni without these restrictions. We need to teach children what is acceptable and teach them responsibility. They dont just become responsible adults overnight !

Does that go for everything? Or just phones? I just don't understand why phones get specisl treatment.

@Dutch1e

I think we may be forgetting that the last couple of generations have been the most watched & shadowed in living memory. They can't just bugger off outside to roam for hours on end and have a good loiter, or make some normal stupid decisions.

Digital privacy is the only kind they really get, and we begrudge them that too? Feck off.

That just isn't true.

The children that aren't allowed to go out and do stupid normal teen stuff is usually down to parents not allowing their children out to roam the streets and do stupid things. Have ridiculous curfews like one of mine dc's mates who at 17 on a weekend had an 8pm curfew.

Having a ban in school because of the dangers of mobiles would have enforced their parents idea about the constant dangers. Not that they were allowed a mobile phone and only access to a list of allowed websites.

I'm finding this thread hard to read. I've been teaching for almost 30 years and my DC are 21 and 20. Both had smartphones from their 12th birthdays.

I was incredulous when I heard the idiot Gav's latest nonsense this morning. Ban them? What a moronic thing to do! Instead of issuing soundbites, why not actually fund schools so we can afford food, textbooks or technology? Too expensive, so let's ban phones.

Today I taught a year 9 class. 4 students worked in a practice room with guitars, jamming and putting riffs together. They had 3 or 4 cracking ideas. One came to find me: "Miss, please could I record them as an audio file on my phone?" Of course she could. I stood outside the door looking through the window and checking that it really was an audio file, but next lesson, they can go straight to that file, listen and tweak it. Ah, the fogeys on here would no doubt want them to notate it painstakingly on manuscript paper because that's what Mozart did. What a total waste of time & effort.

Some of my tutor group forget to upload their lateral flow results on time on the required day. In registration, they asked if they could put a reminder on their phone. Of course they could - how stupid to deny them this. Once they did it, they turned off the phones and put them in their bags. Where's the harm in that?

If Gav tries to ban teachers from having them, my resignation letter will be on the Head's desk immediately. I am meticulous about never filming or recording any student. However, I have a tuning app on my phone which plays notes of exact frequencies. It's brilliant when you teach kids the physics of music to be able to explain it and let them hear how the note A has risen in pitch over the last 300 years. I have a metronome app. Again, it's so useful in the classroom. I have loads of playlists on there. It's amazing to be able to connect it to the speakers in the classroom and play a piece of music to demonstrate something without the inappropriate adverts on YouTube.

Everyone saying that kids should hand them in to the office in the morning, what a load of nonsense! How during Covid times is that going to happen? Where will "the office" store them? How long does it take to hand in and distribute 1000+ handsets?

Perhaps if parents actually stepped up and, you know, parented their offspring, there would not be an issue. Perhaps if they installed the appropriate safeguards on their kids' phones and their home internet, we wouldn't have the issues we supposedly do. Or if they actually policed the social media age-ratings, instead of allowing their primary kids on TikTok then moaned, I might have some sympathy.

Malbecfan absolutely.

My y10 Dd had all her art photos and artist research on her phone today for her lessons.

Phones are multi use in the classroom.

Research
Camera
Timer
Calendar
Music
Book

All useful. But let’s make them all do it in longhand in their books to promote penmanship or similar. Because that’s going to be sooooo important in the digital age.

I can see a time in the future when people don’t use handwriting at all.

@Bitofachinwag not just phones. Teenagers need to be prepared for adult life. If you shield them from everything until 16 and dont let them have any freedom or responsibility itll be a massive shock when they enter the world of work or college where they have to take responsibility for themselves.

@Malbecfan

I'm finding this thread hard to read. I've been teaching for almost 30 years and my DC are 21 and 20. Both had smartphones from their 12th birthdays.

I was incredulous when I heard the idiot Gav's latest nonsense this morning. Ban them? What a moronic thing to do! Instead of issuing soundbites, why not actually fund schools so we can afford food, textbooks or technology? Too expensive, so let's ban phones.

Today I taught a year 9 class. 4 students worked in a practice room with guitars, jamming and putting riffs together. They had 3 or 4 cracking ideas. One came to find me: "Miss, please could I record them as an audio file on my phone?" Of course she could. I stood outside the door looking through the window and checking that it really was an audio file, but next lesson, they can go straight to that file, listen and tweak it. Ah, the fogeys on here would no doubt want them to notate it painstakingly on manuscript paper because that's what Mozart did. What a total waste of time & effort.

Some of my tutor group forget to upload their lateral flow results on time on the required day. In registration, they asked if they could put a reminder on their phone. Of course they could - how stupid to deny them this. Once they did it, they turned off the phones and put them in their bags. Where's the harm in that?

If Gav tries to ban teachers from having them, my resignation letter will be on the Head's desk immediately. I am meticulous about never filming or recording any student. However, I have a tuning app on my phone which plays notes of exact frequencies. It's brilliant when you teach kids the physics of music to be able to explain it and let them hear how the note A has risen in pitch over the last 300 years. I have a metronome app. Again, it's so useful in the classroom. I have loads of playlists on there. It's amazing to be able to connect it to the speakers in the classroom and play a piece of music to demonstrate something without the inappropriate adverts on YouTube.

Everyone saying that kids should hand them in to the office in the morning, what a load of nonsense! How during Covid times is that going to happen? Where will "the office" store them? How long does it take to hand in and distribute 1000+ handsets?

Perhaps if parents actually stepped up and, you know, parented their offspring, there would not be an issue. Perhaps if they installed the appropriate safeguards on their kids' phones and their home internet, we wouldn't have the issues we supposedly do. Or if they actually policed the social media age-ratings, instead of allowing their primary kids on TikTok then moaned, I might have some sympathy.

Well bloody said! It's either phones or discipline with Gavlar, talking through his arse again

[quote Jackofallsorts]@YoutubeZoom so without MS Teams teachers would not be able to communicate to their students about activists and homework? Isn't Teams on laptops anyway?
I understand the point you're making that it's convenient for teachers but it's not a valid excuse in my books. They should find alternative methods of communicating.[/quote]
Sorry, RL intervened.

Of course, teachers would be able to communicate with children without phones. But a common messaging system makes it easier. If it is not broken, why fix it?

Teams is also accessible on phones I am told.

Should be banned until you are 18. My bloody 15 Yr old grand daughter is on hers non stop.

Banning phones in school won't stop teenagers using them 'inappropriately'. That is the responsibility of the parents.

If you don't want your child to use a phone in school then don't let them take a phone to school. Its not difficult. Although as is far too common parents seem to want schools to take responsibility for parenting their child.

If you choose to let them take a phone to school then let teachers worry about how and when they are used in schools.

I'm a teacher and my pupils use phones to take a picture of homework on the board, they check and put reminders on homework issued online, they use them for research when the network is down (far too often) and they use them for a number of their lessons (I teach Computer Science, which includes App Development and what is better than making your own App and being able to upload it to your phone to test it!).

During the first lock down something like 30% of our pupils ONLY had their smart phone for accessing online work.

So yeah, if you don't want your kid to have a phone in school then be their parent and don't let them take their phone to school. If you choose to allow it then leave it to the schools to set the rules in school.

I think this past year has proved exactly why things smartphones, tablets, and laptops are so important. I can’t believe this is still an argument, I think it’s about time some people stepped into this century instead of worrying about how things used to be and comparing things to how they were 30 years ago. We’re not living 30 years ago anymore, things change and life moves on, time to start adapting.

I think schools should have stricter guidelines to prevent using phones in school for non school related things but a complete blanket ban would never work. I also think going back to one shared family computer only accessible in one room is ridiculous and again, the last year shows exactly why that just doesn’t work.

@Malbecfan

I'm finding this thread hard to read. I've been teaching for almost 30 years and my DC are 21 and 20. Both had smartphones from their 12th birthdays.

I was incredulous when I heard the idiot Gav's latest nonsense this morning. Ban them? What a moronic thing to do! Instead of issuing soundbites, why not actually fund schools so we can afford food, textbooks or technology? Too expensive, so let's ban phones.

Today I taught a year 9 class. 4 students worked in a practice room with guitars, jamming and putting riffs together. They had 3 or 4 cracking ideas. One came to find me: "Miss, please could I record them as an audio file on my phone?" Of course she could. I stood outside the door looking through the window and checking that it really was an audio file, but next lesson, they can go straight to that file, listen and tweak it. Ah, the fogeys on here would no doubt want them to notate it painstakingly on manuscript paper because that's what Mozart did. What a total waste of time & effort.

Some of my tutor group forget to upload their lateral flow results on time on the required day. In registration, they asked if they could put a reminder on their phone. Of course they could - how stupid to deny them this. Once they did it, they turned off the phones and put them in their bags. Where's the harm in that?

If Gav tries to ban teachers from having them, my resignation letter will be on the Head's desk immediately. I am meticulous about never filming or recording any student. However, I have a tuning app on my phone which plays notes of exact frequencies. It's brilliant when you teach kids the physics of music to be able to explain it and let them hear how the note A has risen in pitch over the last 300 years. I have a metronome app. Again, it's so useful in the classroom. I have loads of playlists on there. It's amazing to be able to connect it to the speakers in the classroom and play a piece of music to demonstrate something without the inappropriate adverts on YouTube.

Everyone saying that kids should hand them in to the office in the morning, what a load of nonsense! How during Covid times is that going to happen? Where will "the office" store them? How long does it take to hand in and distribute 1000+ handsets?

Perhaps if parents actually stepped up and, you know, parented their offspring, there would not be an issue. Perhaps if they installed the appropriate safeguards on their kids' phones and their home internet, we wouldn't have the issues we supposedly do. Or if they actually policed the social media age-ratings, instead of allowing their primary kids on TikTok then moaned, I might have some sympathy.

Do you honestly think this is what people are talking about? The circumstances you describe?

I'm not and I'm not seeing in in other posts either. I'm referring to the endless wittering and subsequent bullying of children because of the unlimited access to social media during school time. That is what needs addressing and that's what I fear in allowing my children to have phones in school. Not using them for a guitar session or other equally valid and non-relevant-to-the-point activities.

I won't be signing up to this. It's basically a drive to turn back the clock, and it isn't possible. Any phone which has maps, capacity to hold textbooks etc. is basically a smartphone. Restricted smartphones like the one the OP would like don't exist. Apps which impose such restrictions can be circumvented.

As for 'single device in a public room in the house' - don't make me laugh. Homework is online these days. Multiple children, especially in secondary = multiple devices needed.

And we can't go back to paper homework because schools do not have funds to support the costs of printing - never mind the environmental impact.

Typical Tory idea.

@Floofboopsnootandbork

I think this past year has proved exactly why things smartphones, tablets, and laptops are so important. I can’t believe this is still an argument, I think it’s about time some people stepped into this century instead of worrying about how things used to be and comparing things to how they were 30 years ago. We’re not living 30 years ago anymore, things change and life moves on, time to start adapting.

I think schools should have stricter guidelines to prevent using phones in school for non school related things but a complete blanket ban would never work. I also think going back to one shared family computer only accessible in one room is ridiculous and again, the last year shows exactly why that just doesn’t work.

This post sums it up so much better than I ever could.

@pointythings

I won't be signing up to this. It's basically a drive to turn back the clock, and it isn't possible. Any phone which has maps, capacity to hold textbooks etc. is basically a smartphone. Restricted smartphones like the one the OP would like don't exist. Apps which impose such restrictions can be circumvented.

As for 'single device in a public room in the house' - don't make me laugh. Homework is online these days. Multiple children, especially in secondary = multiple devices needed.

And we can't go back to paper homework because schools do not have funds to support the costs of printing - never mind the environmental impact.

Typical Tory idea.

I am not sure that the environmental impact of making phones and their components, packaging materials for the phones, transporting their components and the finished phones, frequently replacing them and charging them is any less than using paper at school. But I'd be interested to see research into this.

A fair point, and mobile phones are made unsustainably. Things would be a lot better if we didn't have built-in obsolescence with operating systems, and if there were laws mandating that they should be repairable.

However, the rest of it stands - this is about turning back the clock and it isn't going to happen. Schools should be allowed to regulate mobile phone use themselves rather than having a top-down government led approach. I mean, we can all see how brilliantly the removal of heads' flexibility in approving term time holidays has worked and this is more of the same.

12:51pointythings for me it isn't about turning back the clock, although I realise that it would effectively be going back to how things were. I just don't think it's a good idea for anyone to spend a lot of time on their phone. It's not good for MH for several reasons, it's not good for real life relationships with other people, physical health and more. In schools there's a problem with using cameras to bully other students and staff, using phones rather than interacting with others during breaktime and an unhealthy interest in what other people are doing/saying/how they look on SM. those things could be done outside of school instead (not the bullying obviously!) .

We live 4 miles from the school and 1.5 miles from the bus stop. My DS is13 and when the weather is nice he will stay in the village with his mates. He requires his phone to tell ne if he is staying and when he needs a lift home,

Ban the use in school, yes, taking them there? Absolutely not

Bitofachinwag as someone with a DD who has benefited from being able to use a mobile as a form of assistive technology, I think the drawbacks of banning them are greater than the benefits. The bullying issues need to be tackled by the school tackling bullying - whether via phone or otherwise.

Mobile phones are a part of life. I use mine constantly for work. I don't see how going back to say paper shopping lists, banking by post, managing my prescriptions offline would benefit my physical or mental health. If anything, going backwards would add stress to my life. Building up resilience to social media would be useful, but I would not be without social media - I have family all over the world, and using technology I interact with them a great deal more than I would be able to without it.

And lastly, I've had a few school emergency situations where I have been bloody glad DDs had a mobile on them.

My children aren't at secondary school yet and I'm already worrying about mobile phones. I like the idea of them being handed in when they get to school and picked up at the end of the day.

@Malbecfan sorry to jump on this old thread.
What stood out for me was the age of your children.
Right now Tiktok and Snapchat are being used by many year 7s. They are still very young. There is a lot of shocking sexual and violent footage that they can come across on Tiktok. Things that can't be unseen and which children that have barely finished primary cannot process properly.
I am also blown away but technology and how much creativity and opportunities it gives are young children- unfortunately I do not feel the same way about social media which is very damaging to young minds, stunting their growth and ability to concentrate as well as coming across disturbing footage, not to mention the many dangers of bullying it promotes.
I think parents and teachers really need to get a handle on the problems to young children who have not 3ven hit their teens.

My Son's school has had a no phone policy since he started in y7. He's y11 now and although at first I thought it was draconian and worried about when he was travelling, it works. It's an all boys school and is in an outer London Borough with its issues of gangs and street crime. My Son walks to and from school and there has only been a handful of times when he's been late home and I started to worry. Of course some of the boys will push it and if a phone is discovered it is handed in to HOY and only handed back to parents who have to collect it. It actually works as an incentive for my lad to get home quick to be reunited with his precious phone!

@bytheby

Happy to hear the pros of mobile phones but honestly I can't see how they can possibly outweigh the cons...

I am all for a much more simple device. Ability to call, maps, I'll allow textbooks and an encyclopaedia.

Taking photos of homework?! - it never harmed me to write out my homework! Camera definitely not allowed as a part of my new invention.

"more simple device, Ability to call, maps".. Soo .. A Mobile Phone?

Each children should hand phone in and be given it back before they go home! Any sign of phone in between take it odd them.
It's madly and stupidly out of control, they take pics of each other, sometimes without permission it's horrible