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5 Oct at 4:36 pm
Schools are banning smartphones. Here’s an argument for why they shouldn’t — and what they should do instead.
This fall, when French students returned to school for the 2018-2019 academic year, many could not take their smartphones to class. The French Parliament over the summer passed legislation that banned students up to age 15 from taking the devices to school — or, at the very least, requiring that they be turned off in class. The goal, according to the Agence France-Presse, was to try to break phone addiction and ensure that students were focusing on their schoolwork in class.
Such bans are increasingly being reported in schools around the world. In this post, a world-renowned educator takes a counterintuitive looks at these actions and offers a different approach. He is Pasi Sahlberg, former director general at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and now a professor of education policy at the Gonski Institute for Education at Australia’s University of New South Wales in Sydney.
Sahlberg has lived and worked in the United States, including several years teaching at Harvard University and leading education work at the World Bank. A former math and science teacher in junior high and high school, he is the author of the best-selling books, “Finnish Lessons 2.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland” and this year’s “FinnishED Leadership: Four big, inexpensive ideas to transform education."
“The time has come to ban cellphones in the classroom.”“A blanket ban on cellphones in class would not be smart.”
These were the headlines of two op-eds published in Canadian daily newspapers in early September. This debate has already reached an international scale: Since 2012, most teenagers in rich countries have had access to smartphones.
In Kerry, Ireland, one school has restricted children’s use of smartphones and social media, not only in school but also outside school hours, with the full support of parents. In Scotland, the Parliament has considered putting limits on student’s cellphone use in schools. In July 2018, the French government banned all students under the age of 15 from using smartphones during school hours. The New South Wales Department of Education in Australia is carrying out a review into noneducational use of mobile devices in schools to see if they should follow France’s lead.
Why is this issue being raised now? One reason is this: Smartphones are everywhere. According to the Pew Research Center, 95 percent of teens in the United States have access to smartphones, and half of them say they are online practically all the time, including at nights. The Center for Media and Child Health at Harvard Medical School estimates that teens spend more than nine hours every day consuming media through their mobile devices. Half of American teenagers say they are “addicted” to their smartphones.
Second, many teachers and parents believe that smartphones disturb children and harm their learning in school. In the Canadian province of Alberta, for example, 3 in 4 teachers believe that students’ ability to focus on educational tasks has decreased in the past five years. Finland’s slippage in international student assessments has happened at the same time as teenagers’ increased screen time. Similar trends of stagnated or declining student achievement have been noted in many developed nations recently.
Third, children’s rapidly declining mental health has led many parents and teachers to wonder what is going on in their lives. If you have any doubts that these concerns couldn’t be real, consider these alarming findings:
- San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge found that the number of American teenagers who feel joyless or useless jumped 33 percent between 2010 and 2015. In that same period, there was also a 50 percent increase in depressive symptoms among teens.
- Australian psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg stated that in Australia, 1 in 7 primary school and 1 in 4 secondary school children suffer mental-health issues.
- The National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland estimates that 20 to 25 percent of youths suffered mental health problems in 2017, an all-time high.
- An Alberta Teachers Association’s survey showed that 85 to 90 percent of teachers think that the number of children with emotional, social and behavioral problems in their schools has increased in the past five years.
- Evidence from around the world suggests that children do not sleep enough, do not eat enough healthful food and do not engage in enough daily outdoor physical activity.
Though it isn’t clear that smartphones are the cause, it isn’t clear they aren’t. So out of an abundance of caution, should they be altogether banned in schools?
Not so fast, some would say. Although many researchers believe that children’s rapidly growing use of smartphones may contribute to declining mental health and inability to learn well in school, it is difficult to prove that screen time alone is the main cause.
Blanket bans are rarely the most effective ways to fix human behavioral problems. Today’s children were born in a world where technology and digital gadgets were already a normal part of life. From an educational perspective, banning smartphones in schools would be an easy solution but not necessarily the smartest one.
Instead, we should teach children to live safe, responsible and healthful lives with and without their smartphones and other mobile devices. Education can be a powerful tool to teach children to exercise self-control and to live better lives. But schools can’t do this alone. “It takes a village to raise a child,” as the old African adage goes.
Here is how to get started:1. Sleep more
More children than ever suffer from insufficient daily sleep. According to most pediatricians, school-age children (6 to 13 years old) need nine to 11 hours of sleep every night, and teenagers should sleep eight to 10 hours every night to function best. However, most teens do not get that much sleep. An American study recently found that in 2015, one-fourth of American adolescents slept less than seven hours a night. The National Sleep Foundation says that only 15 percent of teens sleep at least 8.5 hours a night during school week. It is common for teens to sleep with their smartphone and check what has happened during the night before saying “Good morning” to their parents.
Solution: Teach children the importance of sleep. Work with parents to agree on the rules that shut mobile devices down two hours before bedtime and keep them away from bedrooms. Assign children an hour’s extra sleep as homework. Keep a log about how children sleep, and monitor the effects of sleep on their well-being.
2. Play more outside
Children play less than ever. The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that because parents spend less time with their children outdoors, children are more engaged with technology, and because schools expects students to do more and faster, children’s opportunities to play have decreased. In many schools, children don’t play anymore. In 2016, just 13 U.S. states had legislation mandating recess for all children during school days. Research that author William Doyle and I used in writing “Let the Children Play” led us to conclude that play is a dying human activity in many education systems around the world.
Solution: Make 15-minute hourly recess a basic right for all children in school. Use schoolyard and nature for recess, play and physical activity as often as possible. Teach parents about the power of free outdoor play and encourage them to spend more time with their children outdoors. Assign homework that includes playing with one another or with parents. Keep a record of how more play and physical activity affects children’s learning and well-being.
3. Spend less time with digital media
Children spend much more time daily with digital devices than before. Many of them sleep less than they watch digital screens. Children often learn these habits from their parents. A recent British study found that about 51 percent of infants 6 to 11 months old use a touch screen daily. According to the Common Sense Media 2015 survey, U.S. teenagers’ average daily media use excluding time spent for school or for homework in 2015 was nearly nine hours.
Solution: Teach children responsible and safe use of technology. Talk about technology with children and help them to find the best ways to limit smartphone use in school and at home. As a parent or teacher, be a role model of regular media diets to children and keep smartphones away when they are not needed. Make technology a tool, not a treat for children in school and at home.
4. Read more books
Children read less than before, and so do adults. Half of children in the United States today love or like reading books for fun, compared with 60 percent in 2010. International reading literacy survey PIRLS 2016 indicated a decline in recreational reading among Finnish children: 35 percent of fourth-graders read for pleasure. Boys read so little in Finland that 1 in 8 are functionally illiterate.
Solution: Make reading a habit. Advise parents to buy books and read them with their children. Read regularly and discuss what you read in school and at home. Let children choose what they want to read. Visit libraries and bookstores and meet with book authors. Read books you hold in your hands more than those you read on a screen.
5. Write letters to ones you love
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that 3 in 4 of 12th- and 8th-graders lack proficiency in writing. Snapchat cyber slang uses shortcuts, alternative words and symbols to convey thoughts in an electronic communication and writing. Ask any high school teacher or college professor for more evidence for the state of teenagers’ writing skills
Solution: Make writing a habit in school. Coach students in good writing and give them regular feedback. Use pen and paper alongside electronic tools. Write a letter by hand to your grandmother or someone you love once a week.
The key to success in life is self-control. Longitudinal research studies, like the Dunedin Study in New Zealand, have shown that learned self-control in childhood is the best predictor of success in adulthood. The main purpose of the five steps above is to help children to regulate their own behaviors. Thoughtful reading and productive writing require the ability to focus, concentrate and pay attention to these activities long enough.
Sufficient daily sleep and more outdoor play help children to do better. They could therefore be more important keys to improving student learning and well-being in school than haphazard education policies and innovation that have been common mandates in schools around the world.
Valerie Strauss -
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5 Oct at 12:20 pm
5 Simple Ways To Encourage Brain Development In Your Little One
Ron Ferguson, an economist at Harvard, has made a career out of studying the achievement gap — the well-documented learning gap that exists between kids of different races and socioeconomic statuses.
But even he was surprised to discover that gap visible with "stark differences" by just age 2, meaning "kids aren't halfway to kindergarten and they're already well behind their peers."
And yet, there's a whole body of research on how caregivers can encourage brain development before a child starts any formal learning. It's another example, Ferguson says, of the disconnect between research and practice. So he set out to translate the research into five simple and free ways adults can help their little ones.
"Things that we need to do with infants and toddlers are not things that cost a lot of money," he explains. "It's really about interacting with them, being responsive to them."
He calls his list the Boston Basics, and he's on a mission to introduce it to caretakers first in Boston and then across the country.
The principles are:
1. Maximize love, manage stress. Babies pick up on stress, which means moms and dads have to take care of themselves, too. It's also not possible to over-love or be too affectionate with young children. Research shows feeling safe can have a lasting influence on development.
2. Talk, sing and point. "When you point at something, that helps the baby to start to associate words with objects," Ferguson explains. Some babies will point before they can even talk.
3. Count, group and compare. This one is about numeracy. Babies love numbers and counting, and there's research to show they're actually born with math ability. Ferguson says caregivers can introduce their children to math vocabulary by using sentences that compare things: "Oh, look! Grandpa is tall, but grandma is short" or "There are two oranges, but only three apples."
4. Explore through movement and play. "The idea is to have parents be aware that their children are learning when they play," Ferguson says.
5. Read and discuss stories. It's never too early to start reading aloud — even with babies. Hearing words increases vocabulary, and relating objects to sounds starts to create connections in the brain. The Basics also put a big emphasis on discussing stories: If there's a cat in the story and a cat in your home, point that out. That's a piece lots of parents miss when just reading aloud.
So how do these five principles get into the hands — and ultimately the brains — of Boston's babies?
Ferguson and his team decided the Basics have to go where the parents are. They're partnering with hospitals to incorporate the five principles into prenatal care and pediatrician visits. They work with social services agencies, home-visiting programs, barbershops and local businesses. Ferguson even teamed up with a local church to deliver a handful of talks at the pulpit after Sunday services.
Tara Register runs a group for teen moms at the Full Life Gospel Center in Boston. She says when she learned about the Basics, she thought, "This would be the perfect place. We've got these young moms learning how to parent and trying to figure this out."
Register wishes she had known about the five principles back when she was a teen mom. Years later, she's now helping get the word out to a new generation. She says when she talks about the Basics in her group, the teenage parents are surprised to discover that so much learning happens so early. "Some of this stuff they're probably doing already and they didn't even know there was a name behind it or development behind it."
And that's true for most caregivers. A lot of this comes naturally; the key is to connect those natural instincts to what researchers know about developmental science — something all parents can learn from, Ferguson says. "I have a Ph.D. and my wife has a master's degree, but I know there are Boston Basics that we did not do."
Back in Register's class, she holds one of the babies and points to his head — and the developing brain inside. "You can't imagine how much of a sponge this is right here," she says. The teens brainstorm ways they'll incorporate the Basics into their daily routine. "I'll narrate what I'm doing as I get ready for work," one suggests. "I'll count out the number on his plaything," another offers.
As Register wraps up her lesson, she has one final thought for the group, which she repeats several times. It's essentially the thesis behind all five of the Boston Basics: "Our babies are incredible," she tells the new moms. "They are complex, they are incredible, they are smart. They can take it all in. So don't underestimate them." -
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3 Oct at 12:33 pm
Three Myths about Vocational Education You Need To Know Are Untrue.
Do you consider vocational education a unviable alternative to university or college? You are not alone. However, you need to think again.
I would like to invite you to put aside your pre-conceived beliefs about vocational education and training (VET) and let me explain how misconceptions about VET are hurting the next generation’s chances of a meaningful future at work.
We have all heard the old adage ‘perception is reality’, but when it comes to VET, nothing is further from the truth.
Here’s my premise: Skills-based education gives young people the chance to get experience and gain confidence early. It can catapult them into steady jobs, a great pay packet and, more than likely, a future-proof career.
Have you ever thought or believed any of these common statements? Well, allow me to bust these myths.
Myth 1. Apprenticeships are old fashioned - they aren’t funky
Actually, they are. And they’re really coming into their own in major economies.
For example, in the US, after waning and being restricted to a narrow range of fields over the past few decades, apprenticeship programs are coming back in a big way. There are more than 505,000 people in the US currently enrolled as apprentices – the highest rate in eight years, and US apprenticeship programs are increasingly offering the entry key to careers in a vast array of growing fields such as IT, health care, hospitality and advanced manufacturing, to name a few.
"Despite that, 8 of 10 people surveyed by the US National Association of Manufacturers said they would not encourage their own children to enter the manufacturing field."
Those same people said they view manufacturing as critical to the prosperity and security of the US (90% of those surveyed actually ranked manufacturing top of the list of important industries!).
The same ‘it’s essential work, but not for my kids’ dynamic exists in Australia. Various research shows parents overwhelming respect the importance of manufacturing as a national priority, but not when it comes to wanting their children to pursue a career in that sector. Go figure.
Meanwhile, among northern and central European countries, between 40 and 70 per cent of high-school students opt for vocational education. After completing three years of combined on-the-job and classroom learning, students graduate with a qualification that carries real weight in the labour market, and a pathway to even higher levels of education and earnings.
If you look to countries where apprenticeships are the preferred way of training young people, like in Switzerland and Germany you will see the superior economic performance, with impressively low unemployment, and youth unemployment rates. It's no coincidence.
In Australia, government data shows 9 out of the ten occupations predicted to have the greatest jobs growth over the next five years can be entered into through vocational education and training programs. If you want to get and keep a job, it would seem VET training is your best option.
So, naturally, I was flummoxed with the results when my organization surveyed Australians on their attitudes towards VET. Three out of five Australians agreed with the statement “in a globally competitive world we need university education more than VET”. Moreover, nearly half of respondents also suggested VET is no longer as relevant as university or college. Ouch.
The reality is that two-thirds of tomorrow’s jobs will not need a four-year degree. That is the low down from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce. (Check out my previous post, 5 Signs Skills Training Might be Right for You, to get some clarity around whether university or vocational training is the best fit for you or your kin. We will show you where the money, and a secure future, can be found.)
Myth 2. University graduates walk into top-paying jobs
Perhaps that was the case twenty years ago, but increasingly, that is not the reality. If you talk to the average person, you would think VET graduates earn between $AUD10,000 and $AUD20,000 less annually than their uni peers. Is that what you think, too? Let’s explore that with a couple of stats.
Did you know that VET graduates have higher starting salaries than university grads, on average? The median full-time income for a VET graduate is $56,000 a year, which beats the median graduate salary for those with a bachelor’s degree of $54,000. It might be only $2,000, it is still a win for VET, as that is a lot of money for a young person starting out in their career.
In Australia, some VET graduates will start their first job on $AUD85,400. That is the average starting salary for those with a Certificate IV in Hazardous Areas – Electrical, which beats even the starting salary for a dentistry graduate, who’ll earn $80,000 a year after a 5 or 6-year program.
Myth 3. Uni grads get jobs quicker than vocational education grads.
Three in ten people we surveyed believed the main reason Australians chose university over VET is because university graduates found work more easily, but graduate employment outcome data from the Dept of Employment reveal this is another total furphy!
"Did you know VET graduates who did their training as part of a trade apprenticeship scored 92% for post-program employment? Also, 78% of VET grads find work straight after graduating."
Meanwhile, only 68% of bachelor degree grads found work four months after completing their course in 2015 – down from 86% in 2008. Yet, despite employability falling to near its lowest level in three decades, and increasing tuition costs, university enrollments continue to rise - and are currently at record high levels!
Why? University has an aspirational aura of prestige, but it might not be the best route to stake out a career. We all want our kids to have a better education than we did, but ask yourself – what is the right choice for them? Are you nudging the next generation to attend university because you did or because of a belief a degree it will be an open ticket to wealth and career success?
However, in reality, there are plenty of unemployed and underemployed people who have university degrees. Think of the glut of qualified teachers who have to make do with casual shifts here and there, some for their entire career, all while waiting to land a permanent job and pay off that HECS debt.
Can we afford to be dazzled by career options involving universities or should we get real and focus on skills-based training? Research shows that completing a VET qualification means you are less likely to be unemployed in the long term. (Just being armed with Australian Certificate I or II qualification, decreases your likelihood of becoming long-term unemployed by nearly 50% in comparison to a person with no post-school education)
Australia’s unemployment rate is nudging 6%, but for youth aged 15 to 24, it is more than double that at 13.1%. It has been stuck there since February, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Overall, about 750,000 Australians are unemployed, which costs the Australian Government almost $11 billion annually in Newstart benefit payments!
However, in almost all sectors, too many jobs remain unfilled because there aren’t enough people with the practical, real-world skills that companies need. It is a phenomenon I call people without jobs, and jobs without people.
Employers are struggling to find skilled workers across the economy. In Australia, one in three vacancies for skilled trade workers go unfilled (one in three!), and that number rise to as high as 55% for jobs in construction, 59% for automotive trades and 65% and 67% for food trades and building professionals respectively.
In fact, the Australian Government’s Skills Shortages report from March this year, show over 27 ‘Traditional Trades’ are in shortage, mostly nationwide. We are talking about Mechanics, Electricians, Fitters, Plumbers, Chefs, Butchers, Hairdressers and Cabinetmakers. These are jobs not only there now, but they will also be there in 50 years, and all can be trained for via vocational programs.
Now I have laid it out for you, isn’t it time you revisited your views about university/college and sharpened your focus on skills-based training to meet the demands of our vibrant, innovative 21st-century economy?
If not for yourself, do it for your children.
About
Nicholas Wyman is the Author of Job U. New report just released download here, "Perceptions are not reality: myths, realities & the critical role of vocational education & training in Australia". Skilling Australia’s Citi New Recruits program is a part of the Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress initiative. The program is designed to prepare urban youth with the career readiness tools and opportunities to gain a traineeship or apprenticeship. Citi Australia supported this report as part of a commitment to supporting research that helps advance the field of youth economic opportunities. The report tackles myths about the VET sector, which is too-often considered the “poor cousin” of universities. Follow nick on linked in @nicholas_wyman
