Learning

Why we don’t allow mobiles in school

/ chrishildrew / 14 Comments

First things first – I love my phone. I use it all the time. Lots of the stuff I use it for is practical: it’s an alarm clock to get me up in the morning; it’s a newspaper to read; it’s a weather forecaster to prepare me for the day; it’s my diary so I know what I’m supposed to be doing, when; it’s my satnav to get me to the places I need to be. But I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t acknowledge that it’s also a huge productivity vacuum: social media is lurking on my home screen with those tempting notification bubbles and there’s a little folder called “games” which tempts me away from what I should be doing with a little voice saying “just one more go…” You don’t get three stars on every level of Angry Birds overnight. I know if I want to get any work done, I put my phone on “Do Not Disturb”. And silent. In a different room.

Angry Birds

Three stars on every level. A sad indictment.

And this a major issue. Whilst a mobile device is an incredible piece of technology, and has the capability to assist and develop learning in and beyond the classroom, the distraction factor far outweighs the benefit. And this isn’t just my opinion. A large scale study by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics found schools that banned mobiles enjoyed a boost in the proportion of pupils getting five good passes at GCSE, compared with schools that allowed pupils to keep their phones. Richard Murphy, one of the co-authors of the paper, said that the distraction and low-level disruption caused by pupils having mobile phones in school appeared to be behind the results. He said “a strict ban on mobile phones does seem to be effective in improving student tests scores, especially those that a school might be concerned about, because it ups the number of students getting five good GCSEs.”

If we want students to learn, we have to ensure that they focus on the task in hand: learning. “There is plenty of solid evidence which shows that in order to learn, we have to pay attention. Again and again, research shows that when people are distracted or when they start multitasking, they don’t do as well as when they are able to concentrate fully on one task,” said Daisy Christodoulou, director of research at Ark Schools.

Another reason is one of dependency. There is a growing body of evidence that smartphones are addictive. A recent University of Derby study found that smartphone use caused distraction from employment, hobbies and studies, could increase narcissism and cause “real life” communication skills to suffer. As a school, we need to help young people develop exactly those “real life” communication skills; a day in school should be time away from the demanding electronic screens in our pockets. Essena O’Neil’s public disconnection from social media is just one example of how the pressure of life online can impact on mental health. One school in London even ran an experiment called Project Disconnect where students lived without their technology for a week. They reported feeling happier, reading more, and interacting more effectively. You can see their video below:

Finally, there’s the safeguarding issue. Over our wireless network we know that internet access is safe, monitored and filtered. But if students had phones – even if only at social times – access to 3G and 4G networks means that access to inappropriate material would be out of our control, as would the ability to take and share photographs and videos without consent or knowledge. Whilst the vast majority of our students, I’m sure, use technology responsibly, the risk to safeguarding would be significant. Besides, I’d far rather see groups of students smiling, laughing and talking to one another face to face at social times than sat around tables looking down, their faces bathed in the artificial glow of an iPhone screen.

Of course, we also have a duty to develop students’ expertise in using digital technologies and our curriculum does exactly that. But the learning comes first. Where technology is essential, or where it will enhance and improve the learning experience, we will invest in it, use it and explore it. But we must weigh up the benefits of new technologies against the potential drawbacks it might have, and in most cases there is usually a way to achieve the learning objective without a classroom of smartphones.

So this is why we don’t allow phones in school. I appreciate the irony of writing about this on a blog, and you’re probably reading on your phone right now. But I’d urge you – after you’ve followed us on Twitter, liked us on Facebook, and subscribed to our email mailing list – to switch it off, put it away, and spend some quality time IRL.

The power of praise

/ chrishildrew / 6 Comments

I’ve really enjoyed meeting parents and families of students at the Academy over the past fortnight, and it’s been great to get such positive feedback about the work we do. It’s a real privilege to work with such an engaged, interested support from home and it makes all the difference!

One thing that I shared at the “Meet the Headteacher” evenings was a summary of a study completed by Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, into the impact of praise on children. She had a theory that the type of praise you gave a child had a big impact on their achievement. The study is summarized in this video from the United States:

In the study, Dweck gave students an IQ test and praised the students in two ways. The first group was praised for their intelligence: “well done, you must be really smart at this.” The second group was praised for their effort: “well done, you must have worked really hard at this.” What she found was remarkable. The students who were praised for their intelligence were less likely to take on a more challenging test afterwards, more likely to lie about their scores, more likely to give up easily, and actually ended up doing worse on a final IQ test. In contrast, the group who were praised for their effort were much more likely to take on a more challenging task, less likely to give up, and ended up improving their scores on the final test. Why should this be?

Dweck’s theory is that praise for intelligence can create what she calls a “fixed mindset” where learners create an image of themselves – I am really smart at this. This self-image works against learning because the students don’t want to jeopardise that image, the thing that has gained them praise, because they perceive that it is the thing that adults value about them. Therefore they are less likely to push themselves to a more challenging task because, if they fail, they will no longer be “really smart at this” and therefore they will be a failure. 

Contrast this with the group praised for their effort. Dweck’s theory suggests that this type of praise can create a “growth mindset” where learners see that effort is what is valued by the adults – their strategies, approaches and attitudes – rather than the outcome. Therefore taking on a difficult task is more likely to get them praise because they will need to try hard. If they fail, they will have failed the task, but they will not be a failure, because they will still have done what got them the praise in the first place – tried hard.

It’s a really thought-provoking study! How often have I said to my own children, either at home or in my classrooms, “you’re so brilliant at this!” or “you’re so clever!” Have I actually been undermining them in my attempts to build them up? I want them to take on difficult challenges, to persevere, and not to be put off when things get difficult. That’s why, now, I’m very careful to praise the strategies and the effort that I see – the process – rather than the person. By ensuring that students understand that it was their approach and their attitude that made them successful, rather than some innate quality that is part of them, it means that they can transfer that approach and attitude to other situations and be successful there, too. Why not try it?

Growth vs Fixed Mindsets

You can learn anything

/ chrishildrew / 7 Comments

In my introductory assemblies with students I have begun to explain what I believe about learning. Much of what I believe is summed up in this video from the Khan Academy:

What I like about this video is that it reminds us about the learning process: “nobody’s born smart; we all start at zero.” It can be off-putting to see experts who find what we are beginning to learn easy, but they were once beginners too – “there was a time when Einstein couldn’t count to ten, and Shakespeare had to learn his A, B, Cs just like the rest of us.” When we are struggling with a concept, a new idea or a skill that we are finding challenging, it can be comforting to remember that others – who find it easy now – struggled when they were first starting out. Struggling, finding it difficult, and having to try really hard are all signs that we are learning. If we don’t have to struggle, chances are we already knew how to do it.

The other thing I really like about this video is the way that it emphasises how important the attitude of the learner is. If a learner is put off by difficulties and mistakes, or gives up if they don’t understand things straight away, they will not succeed. However, a learner who understands that mistakes, difficulties and struggles are helpful in the learning process is more likely to grow: “each wrong answer [is] making your brain a little bit stronger. Failing is just another word for growing, and you keep going. This is learning, knowing that you’ll get it even if you haven’t got it yet.” The truth is, you only fail when you’ve given up. Until then, everything is learning.

Young boy reading book in a ruined bookshop in London devastated by an air raid - 1940

You’ve only fail when you’ve given up. Until then, everything is learning.

The final reason that this video resonates with me is that lightbulb moment: “one day, you walk.” For a teacher, watching the moment when a student gets it is what makes the job worthwhile. And the most important thing is that the learning process is completed by the learner themselves. It’s our job as teachers to create the right conditions for learning – the resources, the culture, the climate – but it’s the students who do the work. When a learner puts the effort in, struggles, fails, keeps going, tries again, tries a different way, then stops, thinks…and it clicks…that’s the moment we teach for.

For students at Churchill Academy, having the right attitude to learning is vital. We expect students to make mistakes, to get things wrong, and to find it hard – that’s the sign that they’re learning. The mark of a successful learner is one who keeps going, keeps trying, keeps putting the effort in until they’ve got it. I’ve seen evidence of this across the Academy again and again this week, and long may it continue.