Smartphones in Schools

I was recently asked to write a 'brief' statement on the GEMS mobile phone policy for Gulf News. I suspect the final edit will be significantly shortened (!) so here's the full statement recorded for posterity... :-)

At GEMS, we believe it is essential that we prepare our students for life, work and continuous learning in an increasingly digital world. We strive to provide real world learning to all our students and our policy of ‘digital normalisation’ is an essential and integral aspect of this provision.  Accordingly, the GEMS ‘Bring Your Own Technology’ policy complements our schools’ provision of hardware, software and secure systems, helping students to build expertise with a suite of devices, empowering all learners to select the appropriate tool for each learning situation.  

Every GEMS school has a comprehensive Digital Citizenship program, which is embedded in the curriculum.  In conjunction with schools’ Appropriate Use Policies and Home-School Agreements, this is the primary approach to ensuring that our students learn to act safely and responsibly in the online environment. GEMS has partnered with Common Sense Media, the leading provider of digital citizenship resources in the US, to ensure that our young people have a firm grounding in this area. An important aspect of this partnership has been the Arabic translation of their comprehensive parent resources, which are available to all our school communities.  GEMS also issues up-to-date guidance to all schools on UAE Cyber Law, ensuring awareness and compliance in a local context.

Digital citizenship education, combined with a strong partnership with parents, is the most effective approach to protecting our children online.  Partnership, Appropriate Use Education, Collective Responsibility and Trust are the cornerstones of the GEMS philosophy and these pillars are reinforced and embedded in the daily life of our schools, through the ‘PACT’ framework:

Partnership

Appropriate Use Education

Collective Responsibility

Trust

Smartphones, like any other internet-ready device, are very much a part of everyday life and provide us all with an important tool for learning, communication and collaboration.  It is essential that students do not see these devices as being ‘forbidden.’  Rather, they are integrated into the learning process and teachers, students and parents work together to ensure the appropriate and responsible use of these tools. As a rule of thumb, we have found that tablets are the most effective devices for young learners, who are encouraged to add laptops to their armoury at around the age of 7 and smartphones from 11 onwards – but this is a rough guideline rather a strict rule.  The guiding principle is digitally normal use and, if a particular type of device provides the vehicle for optimal learning in any given situation, then we must empower our students to deploy these devices effectively and safely.

It is interesting to note that Generation Z children do not even use the term ‘smartphone’ or even ‘mobile’. To them, they are simply ‘phones’ and, even then, not particularly ‘smart’! As educators and parents, it is both our duty and challenge to help children to use this normal technology as a force for good.