In order to convince students to stop using mobile phones and to pay attention in class, the principal of a high school in Buzău came up with two novel proposals: firstly, the teachers should give up their smartphones themselves, and secondly, the children should a new optional subject is offered: “social media for everyone”.
Students are not allowed to use phones in class except for educational purposes. Photo source: archive
Anca Florea, deputy director at the “BP Hașdeu” National College in Buzău, believes that the rule prohibiting mobile phones in class should be respected by both students and teachers. “It is not appropriate for me, as a teacher, to use that device to solve certain problems during class. It’s about respect for the student and the power of example. Because banning something without coming up with explanations, without the right of appeal, without first of all giving an example, is not a solution. It won’t work,” the teacher declared for the Truth. “I, although I have not faced this problem, having students use the phone in class, once I enter the classroom, I put the device on silent. I assure them that my phone is on silent every hour out of respect for them and ask them to do the same. Respect is earned, not imposed. And it is won by deeds, by actions, not by words”, continued the teacher.
But how many teachers will comply? Hard to say because mentalities change hard, and sometimes never. “Here it is a problem of mentality, it is a problem of human resources. What we all need to understand is exactly this power of example. Before we ask them to follow a rule, we ourselves owe it to them. The hardest X-ray comes from the pupil. Children notice all the qualities, but also the gaps that each of us has”, explained the teacher.
Teachers require electives to help students use the Internet safely
We live in a digitized world, in the age of technology that develops at the speed of light, we live in a world of artificial intelligence and increasingly smart devices. It is impossible to close children’s door to this world that comes with benefits, not only risks. “But we can do something else: teach them to use phones, the Internet, social networks to their advantage. To know what the traps are, how to avoid them, what the dangers are, who lurks behind the screens”. The teacher refers to the introduction of an optional subject to teach children how to safely use not only mobile phones, but all devices connected to the Internet. “The fact that we have students with their phones in their hands during class does not mean that they know how to select digital content, that they are ready to face an act of online bullying, that they know how to manage their private space online.”
Who could teach such a subject? Even the teachers in the school, the director Anca Florea told us. “Teachers could even be our computer science teachers or school counselors. Educational alternatives must come from the school. Human resource is right here. Therefore, why not have courses where the use of phones in this sense is actually indicated? For example, new media, privacy and social media, for everyone to understand?”, asks the deputy director of “BP Hasdeu” College from Buzău.
Unlike in years past, when students could keep your phones on them, the regulations now require the organization of storage spaces specially designed for this purpose. “In each classroom we will have such storage spaces: a locker attached to the chair, or another locker equipped with a key.” But there will always be students, says the teacher, who will evade the general rule, hand over one phone while keeping another in their pocket. Therefore, the director believes, the problem, in many cases, will not be solved that way. On the other hand, there will be situations of teacher-student complicity. “From a teacher’s tolerance, a kind of compromise could be reached. It is a trap into which many can slip. Teachers should follow the rules to the letter. Once we understood, the second time you had a problem, the third time we are already entering the sanctions”.
What does the regulation say?
In the new Student Statute, in article 15, it is provided that they are not allowed to use mobile phones or any other electronic device during classes, “including during the educational activities that take place outside the educational units, with the exception of their use for educational purposes, with the consent of the teaching staff, during breaks or in the spaces explicitly authorized by the internal regulations of the educational unit”. Students’ mobile phones “they must be kept, during the lessons, in a safe space, which will be set up in the classroom and to which the principal or the school director will have access” Failure to comply with these provisions may lead to the confiscation of the devices by the teacher and their return to the parents at the end of the class. The provisions do not apply to equipment that students with SEN are authorized to use,” the Statute states.
