If we thought the Labour government was bad – and by God, it was bad, very, very bad – then the successor, preaching liberty should be an improvement. Yet as we discover, politicians are the same nasty bastards under the skin, despite the colour of their rosettes. A bill to allow teachers to search pupils and confiscate their mobile phones is just one example of runaway control freakery.
Plans to allow teachers in England to search pupils for mobile phones and examine the phones’ content have been called “reckless” by a teaching union.
You won’t often find me agreeing with the unions, but I do on this occasion. They’ve got it right and the control freaks in parliament have got it wrong – again.
Now, I have no problem with schools having a no mobile phones rule if that’s what they want. And I have no problem with teachers exerting the necessary authority to impose such a rule. This doesn’t need legislation, though. However, when you get into what is being proposed, it becomes really alarming.
The Education Bill for England will give the teachers a legal right to search pupils and take their phones – and also look at and delete any messages and pictures they deem necessary.
What!?! Now I don’t know about you, but if someone decided that they wanted to poke about my messages and delete what they thought was “inappropriate” I’d be incandescent with righteous rage. Because we are talking about children, somehow the basic principles of private property can be cast aside. No, no and thrice, no! If there is a problem with children misbehaving, then parents need to take control of the issue and teachers, should they become aware of it, need to take the matter up with parents, but to poke about among private messages is way, way, waaaay out of line. Fortunately, it seems that the NASUWT agrees – even if they don’t seem to grasp the underlying principle.
“The government believes that it is essential we do what we can to protect everyone from this unacceptable behaviour.”
Jesus H Christ on a pogo stick! Do these cretins never get it? Okay, don’t answer that; rhetorical question. No, it is not the government’s role to protect us from “unacceptable” behaviour. Indeed, the only unacceptable behaviour I see is from a bunch of control freaks in parliament who think it is okay to poke about in peoples’ private affairs. Christ almighty!
Taking a mobile phone off a teenager? … isn’t that a declaration of war?
No wonder teachers don’t want it! These MP’s get voted in and as soon as they arrive at HOC their brains are removed.
If you don’t want kids to use their mobiles in class, surely the best way forward is to invest in a Jammer. Then you don’t have the hassle of taking their precious toys off them, and they can’t sit there playing on twatter and facebook. Simples.
Yup, agreed. Take the phone & lock it away for the duration, no problem. But remove anything on it?
No. Going too far.
Girls will keep them in their bras, at that age there is plenty of room, and boys in a front pocket.
Would you as a teacher take the risk of being accussed of sexual harrassment? Especially with the support you get from the government.
It’ll happen a few places with the nice boys and girls but won’t really take off.
if ever we needed evidence of how out of touch and how much of a sense of “divine right” entitlement to order our lives these self serving troughing careerist scum have, we have it here……
what next and believe me they will try:
snooping on e-mails? (oh they do that already dont they!)
censorship of youtube? (oh they do that also) see the link
http://ukk41.blogspot.com/2011/03/british-government-censorship.html
collection of intrusive personal data to see how many cattle they have in the fields and how fat they are to take to market (tax)? the current census anyone….oh and dont forget the first ever census was just about that….. Doomsday Book anyone!
I am heartily sick of what passes for governance in this country….and so are many others…
when are we going to take it all back…that is the question…
Confiscating something a child is using to disrupt the class or take their attention away from the lesson – no problem with it. Rooting through the confiscated item when it contains information of a personal nature – big problem with that one.
But it’s the modern way you see. When Aaaah were a lad, there was no law that said Teachers could or could not confiscate something from me, or give me a thick ear for misbehaving. They just got on and did it. Generally parents were happy with that and would more often than not take the side of the Teacher on the matter. Quite right. Any parent that did kick up a stink was seen as a delinquent – mostly right.
Your childhood experience seems to be the same as mine.
“[…]and delete any messages and pictures they deem necessary.”
Interesting. Who’s going to be the arbiter of what’s “necessary?” Any appeals process?
Even photographer-arresting policemen aren’t allowed to delete stuff off such equipemnt. Yet.
XX Even photographer-arresting policemen aren’t allowed to delete stuff off such equipemnt. Yet.
Comment by PJH — March 26, 2011 @ 20:31 XX
I seem to remember, that they have done JUST that. And/or tried to demand that pictures are erased….
They have – however, they aren’t supposed to, which is why they had to have guidance issued by the Chief Constables telling them what the law is. I don’t expect that to stop them, though…
IIRC the Met has issued guidance no less that THREE times regarding not deleting images, but still reports surface of it happening.