How to Not Decide
ISA is a ‘phone free’ school. But this is not a post about that. It is about decision making, and why it is not always a good idea to be efficient, and how problem solving can be problem causing.
For many years, not using phones in classrooms and corridors was a line in a behaviour policy. When it was first written it was not much of an issue, but in the years since the pandemic phone use burst through into the school’s public places and the old rule was not able to contain it.
In 2024, school leaders looked again at the issue and consulted students before making a far more comprehensive, Mobile Personal Electronic Devices Guidelines for Students.
Phone use once again retreated, and we saw an obvious increase in personal interaction. Our new guidelines achieved what we wanted them to achieve. Mostly. But some issues began to niggle more over time. These included:
- persistent violations of the guidelines and repeated phone confiscations
- concerns about phones being used in toilets and changing rooms (unsupervised areas where they cause the greatest risk)
- concerns about students wearing ear buds connected to phones although phones are out of sight
- inconsistent application of the guidelines
- our own failure to implement the guidelines with regard to smart watches, ear buds and wearable glasses.
- particular concerns over use of devices between 3 and 6pm.
For school leaders, the bullet points above are problems looking for a solution. A solution which seemed to neatly present itself with‘mobile phone pouches’. The idea is this: at the start of the day, students put their phones in especially designed pouches under the supervision of their advisors. These are locked, and can only be unlocked with a device made available at the end of the day. Phone use is therefore rendered impossible.
I won’t go into the details of how it would work in practice, but they were thought through, and sample pouches bought and considered. We had a problem, now a solution: efficiency demanded that we now move to implementation.
But that is not what we did. Instead we decided to consult students, teachers and parents, thus discovering that our solution had its own concerns. We learnt from middle school students that many didn’t have phones, and that a morning routine of putting a phone in a pouch would draw attention to who had them and who didn’t. We would prefer the norm to be no phones until high school, but the new way of doing things may convey just the opposite message.
High school students pointed out that the more we tried to impose our authority, the more some students would push back, and find workarounds.
Teachers also raised concerns about authority. At the moment, they start the day in advisory time building relationships. They don’t have to check uniform compliance; they can spend time getting to know students, asking after their wellbeing. Suddenly, their day begins with an imposition of authority - ‘put your phones in the pouches - let me check you’ve done’. Not the more usual, ‘How are things - did you match go well last night?’ (or some equivalent).
Parents gave a mixed response - like teachers supportive of a phone free school, but also concerned about the implications of further measures. One spoke strongly of the importance of educational approach, another of pastoral concern for those who may be addicted.
Our decision? Well for the moment, to stop and think a bit more; to appreciate our wider culture of strong relationships and personal responsibility. To take a stand against false ‘efficiency’. To accept that not all problems can be solved with the click of our fingers.
Students talkng things through
Comments
Post a Comment