The very notion of “allowing students to keep [mobile phones] on condition they are not used or heard” might work in an ideal world (Ministers confirm plan to ban use of mobile phones in schools in England, 19 February). Unfortunately, my experience has been that some students (and parents) are not obedient, and a significant few are compulsive and frequent users. These students, often those in least need of distractions, find it almost impossible to keep to voluntary conditions, and employ an amusingly wide variety of subtle and secretive techniques to use phones in lessons, thus creating unnecessary further distractions for the class generally.
Such students can have prestidigitation skills that would have astounded Paul Daniels, the ability to lie convincingly, an innocent tone of voice and facial expression, and body language designed to discourage discovery, so it would be a very brave teacher who would attempt to find a phone that was being used, let alone confiscate it. The very notion of searching through a student’s possessions or person makes one despair at the experiences of those who suggest these policies. When a phone is discovered, students’ excuses come thick and fast: “an emergency at home”, interview for a part-time job, medical appointment, ill relative etc – all of which used to be filtered through the school office.
