25
May
Teachers on smartphones in school: 'the downside is access to social media'
Grace Cox, Izzy Gordon and Mikayla Diaram are year 10 pupils at Harrogate High School. They recently spent a week with the Stray Ferret on work experience learning how to be a journalist.
We asked them to look at the topic of whether mobile phones should be allowed in schools - a subject that is rarely out of the headlines.
This report by Grace Cox focusses on the teachers' views. Tomorrow, Mikayla will report on how parents feel and Izzy's article, which included accounts from pupils, was published yesterday.
This series of articles is free to read. For access to all our content, please subscribe by clicking here.
I interviewed two members of staff at Harrogate High School on whether phones should be allowed during the school day.
The topic has been at the centre of national discussion for months.
Phones are not permitted at any time during the school day at Harrogate High School – including break and lunch times – and are confiscated if pupils are caught using them.
However, pupils’ timetables and homework are stored on an app on their digital devices.
Sarah Tabor, a teacher at the school, saw both the positive and negative impacts of using phones during school.
She told me:
I think it’s useful for students to be able to have a phone because they need to be able to contact their parents and make arrangements with their friends.
So, having a mobile phone with them can be really useful and would make both parents and students feel safer.
Ms Tabor said she thinks the younger generation are addicted to their phones and pupils “need to find other ways to get through to one another”.
“I don’t think my generation would have been any different had we been given a mobile device, though”, she added.
In addition, Ms Tabor was concerned about how easy it would be for students to access misinformation if the rules surrounding phone use were relaxed.
She said:
Maybe there should be lessons on how to use your mobile phone, like which apps are dangerous and which are suitable, and how and where to find information.
There’s a huge amount of information and knowledge out there, but there’s also a huge amount of misinformation.
Ms Tabor also told me she feels the school’s rules on phone use are harsh but fair.
“Students should be encouraged to talk to each other, and our verbal skills are going to become less eloquent if students aren’t actually communicating”, she added.
'The downside is access to social media'
Ethan Faulker, attendance and careers officer at Harrogate High School, told me he thinks pupils would “abuse the rules” if school policies were made more flexible.
He said:
I think all members of staff can point out students who could be given their phone and be trusted to do their work on their phones. But others won’t and will start messing around on their phones and playing games.
Mr Faulker felt phones could be used to support students with their learning and can be a “useful tool”.
However, he said "the downside is access to social media”.
I asked Mr Faulker if he feels the school’s rules should change to allow phones at lunch or break times, but he was against this:
I don’t agree [with having phones at lunch and break] because there could be a few that would ruin it for others. There's always a danger in any school that phones can be used to bully.
We talk to the students about the issues of bullying and do everything we can to prevent it.
Once students are in the building, they don’t need their phones.
Both teachers saw how phones could be used to assist pupils during school, but ultimately felt they are not necessary.
How did I find my experience asking questions and working as a journalist?
Doing work experience at the Stray Ferret was an amazing experience.
I got to see how stories are researched and written. It was brilliant to collect evidence and draft our own pieces. It showed us what it is really like to work in the industry.
It is good that Harrogate High School gave us the chance to do work experience in year 10 and find out more about a career we are interested in.
I have really enjoyed exploring this area of work - thank you Stray Ferret!
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