Digital school regulations: everyone joins in

Nothing against the classic school rules. The rights and duties set out in them ensure clarity and form the basis for a good school atmosphere. If everyone adheres to them, everyday school life can run as smoothly as possible. However, this has become much more difficult since children have their own mobile phones.

As a result, conflict situations have increased significantly in many schools: Incidents of cyberbullying or teachers being secretly filmed are not uncommon. School administrators usually react with harsh bans. But bans do not solve problems. Rather, they prevent the joint development of solutions.

Above all, bans on mobile phones prevent pupils from developing and improving their social skills. From an educational point of view, this is a missed opportunity. It would be more effective to develop a set of rules drawn up by the pupils themselves, which can then serve as a guide for all classes: the digital school rules.

Teenagers set surprisingly strict rules when you involve them and give them responsibility.

I conducted my first workshop on digital school regulations with a group consisting of teachers, parents and pupils. They were all asked to formulate wishes and needs for good smartphone use at school from their respective perspectives.

To my surprise, it was the pupils who made the most restrictive demands. «I want to be able to concentrate on my lessons in peace in the morning and I'm actually quite happy if the devices stay switched off in my bag,» explained the 13-year-old class representative to the astonished group of adults. In the afternoon, she added with a smile, she would be busy enough with her mobile phone.

Participation promotes compliance with rules

As a result, schoolgirls are much stricter than we adults give them credit for. However, they would like the school not to decide over their heads on this issue, but to take them seriously and involve them in the responsibility. Just like adults, smartphones play an important role in their everyday lives. In addition to entertainment, they also use it to communicate and organise various matters. And they are more likely to stick to agreements that they were actively involved in creating.

However, the digital school regulations are much more than a participation project. The development of this set of rules offers a wonderful opportunity to teach media skills in a practical way. We are not talking about school-related technical skills that revolve around Word, PowerPoint or using search engines, but rather the promotion of media skills that clearly focus on child protection.

Pupils face a number of very serious challenges in their everyday digital lives: In addition to the aforementioned cyberbullying, these include cybergrooming, inappropriate photos and the pressure they face from both social media and gaming. In addition, the disproportionately long period of use is also known to lead to a lack of concentration.

Although this is a major concern for children and young people, they very rarely comment on it because smartphones are an irritating topic at home anyway and such statements would result in stricter regulations. The digital school rules can raise awareness of personal responsibility and provide helpful solutions so that young people can react competently and without fear in difficult situations in the online world - both inside and outside of school.

Don't demonise devices, but integrate them

However, it is also true that female pupils are never particularly enthusiastic at the beginning when they are asked to develop their own school rules. There is a noticeable reluctance. They harbour the perhaps not entirely unjustified suspicion that, in the end, the adults will once again assert themselves as the stronger ones with their rules. However, the teacher is only supposed to guide and accompany the process. In addition, the pupils fear that they will harm themselves with their own rules and score an own goal.

A little trick takes away their worries: if the workshop takes place in a Year 6 class, they should set the rules for children in Year 4. The suggestion is a relief for the pupils and also awakens protective instincts.

If smartphones and tablets are integrated into the project, the devices are not stigmatised, but are used as useful tools.

However, the most central point of the workshop has a really motivating effect: In order to make their paper-based results appealing, the pupils are later allowed to unpack their smartphones and tablets. The devices are therefore not stigmatised, but are now used as useful tools. They use them to create impressive posters, memes, postcards, bookmarks, photo novels and films that present the individual focal points of the respective issue in a gripping and pointed way. There are no limits to their creativity.

When it comes to photos, students also learn at this point what is and is not legally permitted with their own and other people's images, for example. And they acquire further skills and help each other when they edit photos, cut films, create cross-fades and add their own or copyright-free music to the scene.

Check benefits, make corrections

At the end, they present and discuss their results and make improvements if necessary. The materials created are later suitable for an exhibition in the school. Four weeks later, the usefulness of the digital school rules should be checked once again for its practicality. Corrections should be made if necessary.

The fact that the devices and apps are actively used is emphasised by the students in the final feedback session. The mood is good and everyone is very proud of their results, which are really impressive. That's why they think it would be a shame if only the fourth-graders were to benefit from it, as originally planned. They are willing to make their work available to other class levels. And they no longer have a problem with their digital school rules being used in their own class.