Social media junkie: history has shown that the worst case of someone being distracted from their work by a mobile phone is this one. Have those Covid-19-era WhatsApp messages turned up yet?
Here’s something that is typical of the Tories – certainly since they got back into office in 2010: a lack of joined-up thinking.
So we get announcements like this:
One of the biggest issues children and teachers grapple every day with is the impact of smartphones in schools.
So many schools have already done an amazing job in banning mobile phones.
Now, we’re changing the guidance so other schools follow their lead. https://t.co/dFll84lLXE
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 2, 2023
The problem? Smartphones aren’t a big issue in schools – and the policy doesn’t take account of the fact that smartphones are often used by youngsters to pay the bus fare into school – so they can’t be banned from bringing them in.
So, how will children who need their phones to pay for their journeys to school do so now?
This is not a serious policy proposal. It is a dead cat to avoid discussion of under-funding, which is the real crisis in education. https://t.co/rakyJ19jf6
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) October 2, 2023
And in fact, most schools already prohibit the use of mobiles during the school day.
The policy would also apply only to schools in England because education is a devolved issue.
Put it all together and it is easy to understand why Richard Murphy (above) called it a “dead cat” policy to avoid mention of underfunding.
This Site mentioned that problem in an article yesterday. It is also discussed in the Guardian piece linked above:
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused the government of failing to address the real problems facing schools of funding and staff shortages.
Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union… urged the education secretary to focus instead on the challenge of teacher recruitment, real-terms funding cuts, the lack of mental health support and rising levels of child poverty.
It seems this is just another instance in which the Tories would rather do what is easy than what is right.
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