You walk into some classrooms as a supply
teacher and every mobile 'phone comes out. You can spot the fact that
little fingers are busy under the desk texting frantically. I've been
in one school which allows students to use their 'phones, but the
usually policy is to have them switched off during lessons.
There are some routine excuses.
“My
Mum's in hospital,” is so common as to suggest the existence of a
plague which targets the mums of teenagers.
“I
was using the calculator,” occurs in classes where there are class
sets of calculators and in classes where a calculator isn't needed.
“Miss
let's us listen to music,” suggests that “Miss” doesn't
understand that music in the wrong circumstances in just as
distracting as any other noise. It's never true.
“I
just got a message so I need to reply,” means the 'phone was
switched on and the message probably came from someone the other side
of the room.
Mobile 'phones also have cameras and an ever
increasing number of teachers find themselves starring on YouTube. It
is difficult to have them removed once they are on.
On the day in question there was lots of
texting going on so I said, “hands and 'phones on desks.” There
was some attempt to hide them and a few probably succeeded, but with
the assistance of the TA, fifteen mobiles phones were collected,
labelled with post-it notes and placed in my bag for safe keeping.
You have to be careful about collecting 'phones
in some schools. You might get thumped.
At the end of the lesson the students lined up
for their 'phones. Unfortunately, one student, Joanne, forgot and
without checking I went home with her 'phone still in my bag.
At
about six-thirty I got an urgent call from my agency.
“Could
you please drive to the school now and take the girl's phone back?”
my consultant requested.
“No,”
I replied, “I'm having dinner and I don't want a thirty mile round
trip.”
Ten minutes later the Headteacher was on the
'phone. “You do realise that what you did is theft, don't you?”
he informed me.
I told him that I would return the 'phone after
school the following day. After a lot of arguing he finally accepted
that I had to work in another school and that it was just not
possible to sort it out before.
When I get to the school at about four-thirty I
was met by a deputation of the Headteacher, Joanne's tutor, Joanne,
Joanne's parents, her brother and several of her friends. I was given
several lectures about my carelessness and about how distressed
Joanne had been, being unable to talk to her friends. I apologised,
pointing out that it was quite an easy mistake to make and it had
happened because Joanne had been breaking school rules. I discovered
that was irrelevant.
The parting remark from from Joanne's father
summed up how out of proportion things can get and what stupid
attributes are attached to mobile 'phones. Pointing to Joanne, he
said, “she could have been raped because of you.”
Is there an answer to that? I can't think of
one a teacher could use.
