Why IPads and Tablets in Schools don't sit well with me.

I confess, I'm a bit of a workstation zealot: the screen on my desk in my office sits on a pile of university Theology tomes so that I am forced to sit up, and I have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse - my antidote to neck and wrist strain. These measures stem from a misspent youth of rugby and high jumping which has left me with a weak back that needs a lot of care. Working at my desk is under control, but my working habits are changing . . . . . 

I am writing this sitting on a train to London stooped over my iPad which is resting on my lap. I can already feel the tension building at the base of my neck. I love the portability and versatility of my iPad, but there are times when my back begs to differ. I am concerned that little discussion seems to have been given to the range of potential health issues surrounding the introduction of mobile technologies into the classroom. We have both a duty of care and a duty to educate young people in their safe and healthy use. 

(If further incentive were required) In our increasingly litigious age, organisations lay themselves open to a potential liability claim if they do not provide adequate health and safety training. (think: 'Working at heights' training for use of ladders, workstation audits, the correct use of Rowing Machines or DT equipment etc.). It is likely to follow that where schools are providing iPads or tablets for use by pupils or staff, that there are potential liability issues, if appropriate training on their safe use is not in place. 

Schools would be well advised to incorporate training into their ICT and/or PSHE curriculums on the health risks surrounding poor posture when using mobile devices. So what form would this take, given that it is almost impossible to maintain good posture when using them? (I am not occupational therapist but) I suspect the best advice is not to spend prolonged periods focused on our iPads, to take regular breaks, and to carry out exercises akin to those recommended on long-haul flights.

Useful sites

• Norwegian experts warn against iPad  The Foreigner 26/02/2012
• How the iPad is changing the way we work: The nine new ways we sit (and slouch) in the office thanks to mobile technology Daily Mail 26/02/2013

End of the Old School Tie?

News that ten schools a week are abandoning traditional school ties in favour of clip-on versions is further evidence [if any were needed] that the Health and Safety lunatics are taking over the asylum.

The Schoolwear Association commenting on annual trends reported that clip-on ties are replacing knotted school ties, as schools worry about health and safety worries. The rationale seems to be as follows:

The emergence of clip-on ties is part of a growing sensitivity towards health and safety, says the association, along with modifications such as high-visibility trimming on scarves.

Clip-on ties take away the risk of pupils having accidents with their knotted ties.

Schools have raised concerns about ties catching fire in science lessons, getting trapped in technology equipment or ties getting caught when pupils were running.

Clip-on ties also allow schools to create a more standardised appearance, says the association, stopping pupils from being more creative in how they wear their ties.

Rather than allowing fear of litigation to wrap up our young people in cotton wool, schools have a responsibility to teach children to manage risk. Long live the Windsor knot!

See Guardian article, How to be a school tie rebel without getting it in the neck ...

Health and Safety in Schools

"It is not the lawyer who counts:
or the man who points out how the pupil should not have stumbled
or how the writer of risk assessments could have done better.
The credit belongs to the teacher who is actually on the school trip,
whose class is covered by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly,
who allows children to err and come up short again and again,
because there is no education without danger or risk,
but who shares his great enthusiasms, his great devotions,
who gives up his time for a worthy cause;
whose class, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while enriching their lives greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who stayed back at school in constant fear of litigation defeat."

Mark S. Steed after Theodore Roosevelt

Education is a Risky Business

The case of Timothy Sutton, the eight year old who was killed by a falling tree while walking with his family in Dunham Massey Park, was tragic. The subsequent legal battle over liability typifies the societal shift that is undermining so many important components of a good education.

I welcome the decision by the Health and Safety Executive [HSE] not to prosecute the National Trust, but find their reasoning for doing so more worrying:

"This was a complex case, and our conclusion that there was no realistic prospect of conviction for any breaches of health and safety law reflects the opinions sought from expert witnesses and legal advisors."

Manchester Evening News; 17th February 2009

We have moved to a blame culture. Accidents don't happen anymore. It is always somebody's fault. Someone can always be sued. The scope for "acts of God" is diminishing by the year. Sadly, the HSE's decision not to prosecute reflects a pragmatic view based on the likelihood of a conviction, rather than a shift in belief about the existence of accidents.

Safest Children in the World?
The UNICEF Innocenti Research Group [Innocenti Report Card #2] concluded in 2001 - based on data from 1991-95 - that the UK's children are the second safest in the OECD [after Sweden]. The UK had a child injury death rate of 6.1 deaths/100,000 population [down from 14.3 in 1971-75, when the UK was the fourth safest country in the OECD]. It is not unreasonable to speculate that by 2011-15 that the rate will have fallen still further.

I am concerned that our children are not learning to handle risk, because danger is taken from them at every opportunity. They don't get so much practice crossing the road, because they are driven to school. They don't go for bike rides, for fear of accident or abduction. Once they cross the threshold of any institution, they are not allowed to climb trees, to throw snowballs, to play conkers and so on, lest the lawyers have a field day. They live controlled lives - no wonder there has been an explosion in "extreme sports". No one wants to see a child die - but I would like to see them live too.

This is madness. The time has come for the Nation to say that enough is enough. I believe that the price of being the safest country in the world is too high. We have gone too far.

Home
Earlier this week my eleven year old son spent a very happy morning, whittling a tree branch into a spear with his Swiss Army knife before proceeding to build a camp fire on the patio, on which he cooked [cremated?] some bacon for what he considered one of the best bacon sarnies he had ever eaten. There was no direct adult supervision, no risk assessment and no accident. My son had a lot of fun and he learned a lot. I suspect that the same would have applied even if he had cut or burned himself. It was not without risk. In fact, the risks were probably so great that few schools would allow the activity to take place – or, if they were to do so, that the “control measures” would have been such to have sanitised all the fun and educational value from the exercise.

A “Risk-free” Education
I do not believe in a “risk-free” education. Of course schools have a duty of care, but we must acknowledge that we do have to take risks if we are to allow young people to grow and develop. We have moved from a culture of minimising and managing risk to one of eliminating it. Sadly, the consequence of this in many cases is not to do certain activities. I find it depressing that Chemistry teachers report that certain experiments are no longer allowed in schools, or that pupils have to watch demonstrations rather than doing the experiment themselves. How dangerous were the experiments of my youth? How many serious accidents were there then?

School Trips
There is evidence from the Maintained Sector [See Select Committee on Education and Skills Second Report] that staff are less willing to take school trips and run activities for fear of litigation. The NASUWT, the second largest teaching union, advises its members:

Because of the great personal and professional risks involved, members should consider carefully whether or not to participate in non-contractual educational visits and journeys. If members ignore this advice then every effort should be made to minimise the risk.

Trips and Journey section of NASUWT Website

At present the NASUWT are alone. The [usually more militant] National Union of Teachers [NUT] take a reassuringly more positive approach:

The Union believes that school visits can be of substantial benefit to pupils in the development of their characters and social skills. For many they offer opportunities to broaden their horizons and enrichen their experience, which would otherwise be unavailable in their lives. School journeys and visits are generally considered to be of educational value in developing the potential and qualities of children and young people. Recent tragic incidents, however, have shown that proper and full concern for health and safety must be an imperative at every stage.

NUT Health & Safety Briefing: School Visits; Amended 5/3/08

School Sport
If the accident records in the schools in which I have worked are anything to go by, the most dangerous activity in most schools by a considerable margin is playing rugby. By its very nature, a full contact game is going to cause accidents. Change is coming here too. The RFU, as guardians of the game, are concerned that they will be liable in the event of an accident. The RFU presently “recommends” that all rugby coaches and referees are properly qualified or supervised by those who are.

Clubs and Schools are strongly advised that qualified coaches supervise all persons who do not hold current coaching qualifications appropriate to the age grades they are coaching.

RFU Rules and Regulations: 16 Coaching Education

It is likely that this will become a requirement in the near future; and the ESRFU is advising schools to get staff on a course at the earliest opportunity. I would be amongst the first to argue that young people deserve good coaches and good referees. And, yes, these do go some way to making the game safer. However, I would not equate good coaching with paper qualifications – just because a member of staff is “badged up” it does not make him a good coach and it does not necessarily mean that his game will be safe. Above all, I am concerned that teachers in schools and volunteers in Clubs will decide not to become coaches for fear of litigation.

Risk Assessment
The whole question of Risk Assessments are at the heart of this debate. I believe that the purpose of Risk Assessments is to demonstrate that a teacher or school has considered the risks and has put reasonable measures in place to ensure that a particular activity is likely to be safe. At the end of the day it is not a guarantee that an accident will not happen. They should not be used either as a mechanism to pass the buck or as an excuse not to do a particular activity.

The role of Headteachers and Governors
I believe that School Governors and Headteachers have an important part to play here, for it is they who are ultimately responsible for Health and Safety matters. The easy course of action is for a Governing Body or Head to give an overly cautious lead – it might be safe option but I am not sure that it would be right educationally. If teachers are going to continue providing young people with the enriching and stretching education opportunities, then they must feel and be supported by Governors and the School SMT. There needs to be trust between teachers, SMTs and Governors.

Heads and SMTs need to make it easy for staff to be able to take trips and run those activities that entail a higher level of risk. In-house expertise - be that in the form of full-time Health and Safety Officers or a designated member of the SMT- has an important part to play in enabling us to retain these higher risk activities on the school curriculum. Teachers need advice and support lest the NASUWT approach permeate to our sector.

Education is a risky business – long may it remain so!