Teaching children about digital responsibility begins at school

SOME might accuse me of focussing far too often in these columns about the appropriate use of digital technology in schools.

Normally it’s about the overuse or inappropriate use of mobile devices by young people and the effect it is having on us all.

If nothing else, my message is always clear: I don’t think mobile devices should be banned in schools.

Considering the extent to which they are having such an impact on society, it is one of the prime areas of educational responsibility schools should take on.

I want students to have their phones in their pockets and learn how to resist the urge to look at them when they vibrate in their pockets at inappropriate times – namely lesson times.

If schools don’t tackle this, then our students will leave school with no training/practice with which to develop good habits in relation to using mobile devices appropriately.

In France they are aiming to ban them in all schools.

This, in my view, is an easy option to take.

It is true that by banning phones students will have no distractions and it will be one less battle for the teacher in the classroom.

However, while I believe this is a good and effective solution to ensuring students focus on their studies, it is not helping those same students in their future lives/careers.

Without that phone in the pocket vibrating at times, students will never develop appropriate habits when it comes to phone use.

It won’t be until they are on their second or final warning at work that they begin to realise they need to change their ways and, by then, those “ways” will be well set in.

Therefore, surely it is the job of schools to work consistently in developing good habits when students first begin to use phones, before the bad ones become entrenched.

Some schools don’t ban phones but insist they are switched off in class and even at break time.

I believe break time is an appropriate time to use phones and so prefer not to go down that road.

Asking for them to be switched off in class is all well and good, but very hard to police.

In addition, as adults none of us like switching our phones off – it’s easier to put them on silent.

There is no reason to assume students are any different. Therefore we should acknowledge this by accepting that most of the time phones will be on silent, albeit on vibrate mode.

If we accept this, then we should provide the opportunity to learn how to resist the urge when the phone vibrates.

One easy solution we have is to allow students to have phones in school switched on but in silent mode.

If a student takes it out without permission in a lesson, then they are asked to put it away.

If they argue then there is an automatic sanction (a detention after school).

If they put it away without arguing, but take it out again, later in the lesson, then there is an automatic sanction.

It’s a pretty crude way to move students towards good habits, but nevertheless it works.

Little by little, the students begin to understand when it is most appropriate to use their phones.

In addition to this solution, another advantage of allowing phones in school is that it highlights all the other unsavoury things young people get up to on phones.

Do a search on sexting statistics, for example, and you’ll see various studies showing the number of children who have received (either consensually or non-consensually) texts or messages of a sexual nature ranges between 25% to 50%.

Some studies put the higher.

Add to this the prevalence of malicious messages and false rumours, and it becomes clear that something has to be done to tackle this. figure far

Again, if we ban phones in school, it won’t reduce the amount of these messages, it will simply all happen out in the community, out of school hours.

If it happens in schools, we can monitor and spot the issues (although we’ll never spot them all) and tackle them effectively, through education and restorative approaches, between all parties concerned.

In short, if schools are to educate young people fully, we must recognise that mobile devices are a central part of all our lives and therefore there should be no turning our back on the necessary education/training young people need if they are to use their devices safely and appropriately in life.

This all brings me to one issue I have, which sometimes makes me want to ban phones from schools entirely. Parents.

Being a parent of three children, I know how hard it is to let go of your child when they go off to that big scary secondary school for the first time.

It’s the first time as a parent you lose some control over your child, and it takes quite a while to get used to that.

It’s also hard initially for many children to let go of their parents in the same way.

This is where mobile devices can really hinder the natural process of learning to become independent.

Over the past few years, the number of calls students make to parents as soon as they are challenged by a member of staff in any way has increased.

Often, they want to get their side of the story in before the school calls home.

This can happen in class or straight after and leads to irate calls from parents who have been convinced the school is dealing with a matter in the wrong way and want to defend their child.

Not as often, there are also calls made to students during lesson time by parents.

We ask parents not to do this, but it still does happen.

There is no real answer to this issue except to ask parents to trust schools while they are in our care.

Undoubtedly unpleasant things can happen in schools, just as they do out in the community, but in schools we can nip them in the bud and resolve issues effectively.

Mobile devices can get in the way of this.

They are instantaneous forms of communication which don’t allow time for reflection, heighten emotions and prevent issues from being resolved in a thoughtful manner.

As a society we are not in control of how we are adapting to the use of digital media appropriately.

Just take a look on the street around you or witness the mischief social media is causing around the world.

Schools must prioritise and explore ways to develop positive, appropriate and safe use of digital media, to ensure future generations regain control of this phenomenon.

And we as adults? We just need to muddle on as best can until young people learn how to model good practice from teenage years into adulthood.