It seems strange to me that teachers have to ask their union to ban pupils from using mobile phones in the classroom.
What has happened to their authority? Why can't they just say they are not allowed?
I understand that there are some schools that take mobile phones from pupils as they arrive and return them as they are going home.
That seems to me to be very sensible, but there have been objections from parents.
BAN MOBILES FROM THE CLASSROOM TO PROTECT US FROM 'CYBERBULLYING', SAY TEACHERS
Mobile phones should be banned from classes because they are "potentially offensive weapons".
A union says they are used to bully staff with abusive texts and calls and photos posted on the Internet.
Many schools have bowed to parental pressure for children to keep thir mobiles on them in case of an emergency, despite mounting concern that some pupils use them in class.
But a dossier of cases released by the NAS/UWT union today included a male teacher who received 50 calls to his mobile from pupils accusing him of being a "pervert and paedophile".
One female teacher found pictures taken on a mobile had been placed on the Bebo website alongside upsetting and explicit remarks.
The call to bar mobiles comes as Schools Secretary Ed Balls promised a fresh crackdown on pupils who target teachers using them.
He will tell the union's conference in Birmingham today that the culprits should be reported to police and he wants websites to treat obscene images of teachers the same as child porn.
The union wants a change in the law so websites that show offensive images of teachers are fined heavily .
Chris Keates, NAS/UWT general secretary, said: "Relying on industry self-regulation to resolve this problem is the equivalent of waiting for hell to freeze over."
(Daily Mail)
