Disruption can be good
Sir Michael Wilshaw – the newly appointed Chief inspector of Ofsted – has called for mobile phones to be banned from the classroom. His views are welcome by many in the teaching profession, but one might have expected better from a man of his position.
Wilshaw correctly identifies that mobile phones are causing disruption in the classroom. However, he seems to have failed to consider a number of relevant factors that are key to understanding to what degree mobile devices can be disruptive and whether they can be harnessed to enhance teaching and learning.
In my experience, disruption in lessons is caused by poor behaviour. Mobile phones have joined forces with paper planes, excessive chatter and illicit text messaging, which, lest we forget, went on long before mobile phones and social networks were ever conceived, as the comic strip below cleverly points out: Continue Reading