Dangers of pupils using 3G instead of wireless

[ass17]

If my son were to take a contract Mobile Phone to school, turn off the WiFi, and then use 3G, thus bypassing all school safeguards/filters, I would feel quite alarmed that they may load/use/show to friends inappropriate content. As a school, once a student starts to use 3G, does it not become your (i.e. the school) responsibility to look after the welfare of that student?

 

What are your thoughts on this issue?

[Domino]

You can't be responsible for something you have no control over - you may as well say the school should be responsible for the students internet use at home...

[hardtailstar]

You could ring up the contract provider and get them to set a under 18s filter on it or what ever its called.

 

I know they can do these sorts of things as when I took out my contract I had to state I was over 18 when they asked plus I think you have to be over 18 to have a contract of your own.

 

I dont think there is much the school can do in regards to keeping checks on students phones and what they access. I think its only when an incident happens then they can step in and deal with the situation and then they cannot keep checks on mobile phones.

Edited February 26, 2013 by hardtailstar

[andrew_91090]

School rules are you can't have phones in school, it's teachers responsibility to confiscate the phone and tell the student to pick it up at the end of the day.

 

as @Domino says, You can't be responsible for something you have no control over

[CyberNerd]

School rules are you can have phone, but not use 3G.

[BlueFlag]

There's nothing the school can really do, aside from banning the use of phones that will help here. Jamming signals is possible and quite easy to do, however it is highly illegal in the UK. There was a case of a school allowing pupils to hand in their phones at the start of the day and get them back at the end of the day, which gave them access in emergencies and to arrange getting picked up etc. It was then found that pupils were bringing in two phones and handing in their old one, getting full use of their shiny 3G/4G phones! At the end of the day, it is very hard to stop pupils from getting access. It just takes one to find a way around your measures then it spreads like wildfire...

[elsiegee40]

Phone use, including data, should be covered somewhere within the school's policies. Most schools ban the use of them during school time (many primaries ban them altogether). We are all aware of the risks, and the we all know that rules are there to be ignored.

 

Appropriacy of use should be covered in the same way as cyber bullying. To be honest, the issues are those covered in this BYOD debate (Mobile phone BYOD in schools - the legal side | edugeek). If schools allow phones onsite, they must also be aware of the law regarding Safeguarding, etc

 

It is a disciplinary problem first, but schools must be aware of their legal responsibilities too.

[mac_shinobi]

Not that it makes any difference to students or anyone else using mobile devices aside from speed ( where data usage applies ) but with the 4G transition, 4G and wireless will be similar speed wise.

 

Obviously as per above statements depends on if students are allowed to use mobile devices in school and if so then AUP's or the likes ?

[plexer]

School rules are you can have phone, but not use 3G.

 

How can you have a rule banning something that you cannot police?

 

Ben

[CyberNerd]

How can you have a rule banning something that you cannot police?

 

Ben

 

They just get busted if we find out they breached it. We use the same method in cookery classes - we give the students knives, but they are not allowed to murder each other. If we find out they've been hacking each other to pieces then they get busted. easy really.