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* Phones will be banned in schools. As the government said they would not do this, this headline was a surprise. The reason was that they were forced by other political parties to include it in the schools bill. Pepe Di’Iasio, of the leaders union ASCL, said it “doesn’t really change much”. What the legislation is likely to do is support schools in banning phones. Rather than making it illegal for students to have phones in school what it will probably do is make it the duty of schools to control their use. That is what 98% of schools are doing already, mostly by telling students phones should be switched off during the school day. Di’Iasio says that funding schools to buy lockers or pouches would make much more difference but that is unlikely to happen in the current financial situation. Therefore this is one headline that is probably not worth getting too excited about.

* Every teacher who burns out is one fewer person who might have “unlocked” a student. This, on the other hand, is a headline I was very excited about. Ben Gomes, Google’s Head of Learning, argues that the key issue in education is not technology but motivation. A motivated student can learn pretty much anything they want where information is easily available, the question is, do they want to ? The Difference identified 176,000 children missing at least half the year at school whilst Teacher Tapp found 68% of secondary schools running exam booster classes (mostly paying staff) and Teacher Support shared the Story of one teacher called Sean under the heading, ‘I sometimes feel guilty that I can’t fix everything.’ The truth is that even where the resources are available the motivation to access them is not evenly distributed. Gomes argues that technology has a part to play in this with a huge impact on the mechanics of learning but the desire to learn, ‘…remains stubbornly, beautifully human.’ Technology can do nothing to help a student who does not want to learn, for that the student needs a dedicated and available teacher. In spite of that Gomes does still work for Google and sees hope in technology, not to motivate students but to free up teachers to ‘unlock students’. He cites a Google study of AI implementation in Northern Ireland which saw savings of 10 hours per week per teacher. In turn this means teachers are able to focus on what they came into education for, helping students, and prevents burnout.

* Schools should be communities which inspire connection, commitment and excellence. Arthur Brookes also argues that the growth of AI, taking away many white collar jobs could be an opportunity to refocus on people centred jobs like teaching. With 56,300 fewer students in primary schools in 2027 some argue that this is an opportunity to do just that, reinvesting the £288m saved into reduced class sizes. Yet Teacher Tapp reports that the number of job adverts for teachers is at its lowest level in 10 years as schools save money by not replacing leavers. At the same time only 32% of secondary and 25% of primary teachers would recommend teaching whilst 37% of senior leaders aspire to be headteachers, down from 55% in 2017. Amongst all this bleak news, in a more uplifting post Kris Watson reminds us of what we could achieve if schools are able to take advantage of these changes. After a visit to Sunderland Football Club he observes that like great community football clubs, schools operate best when they are communities which inspire connection, commitment and excellence. Cathie Paine was similarly inspired by her the coherence and stability she found in schools during her visit to Singapore. This, she observes, enables leaders and teachers to act as professionals focused on the needs of young people. Whilst that may feel far off right now perhaps, Cathy suggests, this may be more attainable than we think.

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