One criteria by which schools are presently judged is “student voice”. It’s a problematic term, one of these abstract generalisations which imply virtue but are too often devoid of concrete meaning.
The phrase may be facile: the issues are real.
Recent discussions with senior students from several Scottish secondaries revealed major unhappiness about what is seen as an authoritarian ban on mobile phones in schools.
While some schools have made major strides in using mobiles as learning tools, many local authorities maintain blanket bans and many teachers (never without their own mobile) see them as a major challenge to authority and discipline. There is one issue on which we might listen to the student voice and seek some sensible agreements with better learning as the intended outcome.
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