Not a day goes by without some comment in the media about schools and what they are, or are not doing. There are so many experts willing to offer their opinion and advice, often without any real experience or concept of what it means to work with children and young people in a 21st century school. Often the opinions are those of the baby boomer generation, of which I admit to being a member, just!
Baby boomers were born between 1946 – 1964 covering the post-world war two period, the fifties and into the early sixties before its revolution changed the world for ever. It is this generation that have, and continue to an extent, to determine the agenda – educational and otherwise. Yet our clients and customers, parents and students come from a different era. Whilst I will be the first to defend the legacy and threads that unite generations, as a school teaching children and young people who were born between 2001 and 2016 we do have a responsibility to pass on the baton, but also to move with the times and importantly ensure we do not impose a mindset upon our students which is potentially no longer relevant.
This week, The Sydney Morning Herald hosted a Schools Summit with an impressive lineup of speakers and the headlines have followed each day, including ‘Principals push back against 'ridiculous' blanket ban on phones in schools’. The article referred to the blanket ban on mobile phones in State primary schools. Whilst there are legitimate questions to be asked about the place of mobile phones in schools, the answer is not Prohibition.
At Hills Grammar we have, and will continue to ask the questions, and in my time at the School the answers have been various; including total confusion about how to manage, denial that there is an issue, prohibition, appropriate use, restricted use and, more recently an acceptance that mobile phones are a fact of life for young people and, in the context of a school, can be useful and effective learning tools. Certainly mobile phones can be used with ill intent, mindlessly and can be a distraction - these uses within our school are unacceptable. However the fact that this may be the case, in a minority of cases, should not mean they are prohibited.
The Principals attending the Summit commonly argued:
- students should be taught to be more responsible with their devices,
- the devices serve useful purposes in today's classrooms,
- you cannot hold children to a higher standard than we are prepared to hold ourselves,
- there is a responsibility as adults to role model what we are expecting from them and within the schools and school environments, coming up with alternative ways of being able to manage that
- students needed to be taught the right behaviour with phones. And if we're going to tell them they just can't have them, then what's going to happen skill-wise ... Are we de-skilling them with how to use things appropriately if they're not getting those lessons at home?"
- children should be learning digital citizenship to address issues like cyber-bullying rather than banning devices, which could be used for research or sharing work.
At Hills Grammar
- there is no need for Pre K to 6 students to have or use mobile phones / devices during the school day,
- we acknowledge that mobile phones / devices are a fact of life for many students Years 7 to 12,
- the risks involved with misuse of mobile devices are recognized and managed when they occur,
- we recognize the potential of mobile phone use and advances in technology to enable, enhance and enrich the teaching and learning process, and
- declare that prohibition is not the answer.
Please click here to review the penultimate draft of the School’s revised policy on the use of phones and other mobile devices. Your feedback is welcome via michael.smith@hillsgrammar.nsw.edu.au
Michael Smith | Principal
Twitter: @Principal_Hills
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