THE HEADTEACHER'S BLOG - THE BURFORDIAN, ISSUE 4 2024 -2025

This is the Headteacher's Blog which was first featured in issue 4 of The Burfordian, published on Friday 8th November 2024.

In this blog, the third of four about mobile phones, I have set out to provide some balance, perhaps in vain, to the negativity that surrounds mobile phones. In writing this piece it has become even clearer to me that the challenges of mobile phones revolve around an individual’s ability to monitor and adjust their usage. As with any behaviour, obstacle or opportunity, it comes down to making good decisions. Typically, though not universally, as young people come through puberty and “out the other side” they will become better equipped to regulate emotions and responses to make balanced and more informed

decisions. What is education at its heart, if not about fostering in people the skills to make good decisions? Decisions that allow them to thrive without compromising the opportunities of others. The question of education about mobile phones in microcosm gets to the very core of what we do in school.

At Burford we make use of a range of apps to support the sharing of information with parents and students. The main organisation tool we use at Burford is ClassCharts. This enables students to keep on top of their timetable, monitor homework set and check on their latest house or behaviour points. It enables the user to remain in control of their lives without using up some cognitive capacity (the focus of the last blog). Also, when a student has apps such as MS Word, Outlook or calendar, they have the opportunity to manage day-to-day administration in a way that is not so easy using analogue tools. There is no question that, in skilled hands, internet enabled devices can be of significant benefit. This is not to mention other tools available via a phone that are of great benefit to learning, such as Sparx or GCSEpod, just two of many online sites that we use in the school.

Further, the ability to communicate with parents during or at the end of the school day or in an emergency can provide students with valuable confidence that, if something goes awry, there is back up. Let’s not forget that, for some individuals, mobile phones are essential for monitoring health conditions such as diabetes or heart conditions. There is no getting away from the fact that internet enabled mobile phones provide quite brilliant tools that, when used appropriately and by those with a specific need, are essential for running lives.

As I conclude there is one caveat hidden with the text above that points again to the challenge. Mobile phones are incredible and as adults with “skilled hands” we, in the main, can moderate our usage. When comparing our ability to monitor our usage it is too easy to assume that young people can operate a device as efficiently and with the same effect. The problem is that the younger the person, broadly, the less the skill of regulation is developed. But even then, it is not clear cut. So many factors are at play. In the main older teenagers will be better adapted to make use of their devices. But in the same way that any student will have different levels of critical thinking or handwriting so it is the case that different students will have different responses in the way they use an internet enabled device, irrespective of age.

This brings me back to the start of this piece. Education about mobile phones highlights the problem of education writ large. How do you educate an individual to make better decisions? It really does depend in each individual case, so any modification to policy (such as that around mobile phones) in the school will explore what will have the greatest benefit to the majority of the community. There will always be compromises to be made, so it is a case of working out which compromise is the one that is most acceptable and negatively affects the fewest number of people. Within any policy making process, as ever, there will be disagreement and not all will be satisfied.

If you are interested in parliament’s position on this tricky matter the following document, though long, offers a good discussion.

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45128/documents/223543/default/