What are the benefits of banning mobile phones at school?

Are children being well prepared for the digital age at school?

Since the introduction of Curriculum 21, media and IT have been part of the school curriculum from kindergarten onwards. There have also been major initiatives in many cantons to provide teachers with further training. The infrastructure has been set up in schools and teaching materials have been developed. The approach that media topics do not just appear in a single subject or a single teaching module is also very sensible. After all, digital change is a cross-cutting issue that affects all school subjects. In this respect, it would be wrong to outsource media education exclusively to a single teacher or a single subject. In my view, media education is a major joint task.
Dominik Petko

What happens if a teacher is secretly filmed in the classroom?

When something like this happens, the response is not always pedagogically appropriate. Parents are often contacted directly and disciplinary measures are imposed, such as a written reprimand. I always ask myself what pupils learn from this. In the worst case, simply not to get caught the next time they secretly film. In such a case, we should instead encourage empathy and an understanding of the possible consequences. Perhaps the teacher concerned should first ask: «What were you thinking?» «Do you actually know what it's like for me when something like that goes online and can never actually be removed?» We then have to discuss such questions. And once a certain understanding has developed, I would ask whether we could discuss this with the whole class as an example. At higher school levels, legal aspects can also be discussed alongside moral aspects. Such misdemeanours are often a good learning opportunity that is missed if we only react with a view to the disciplinary regulations.
Dominik Petko

What are the benefits of banning mobile phones at school?

I find it problematic when schools ban mobile phones. Nobody sticks to it anyway. A head teacher I know therefore introduced rules together with the pupils, which were surprisingly strict on the part of the pupils. This shows that children understand the meaning of rules very well.
Stefan Aufenanger

Should teachers incorporate influencers and their content into lessons?

In terms of productive media skills, I think influencing at school is very suitable - for example as part of a digital project week. How do I produce something? How do I prepare content for a target group? In principle, influencers can use multimedia storytelling to convey all the content that pupils have previously learnt in the traditional way via presentations or lectures.
Ulla Autenrieth