We should view mobile phones as tools for teachers and pupils

Gillian Keegan, our education secretary, is misguided when she says schools are “places for children to learn and mobile phones are, at a minimum, an unwanted distraction in the classroom”.

As a maths teacher, I get the students to use their mobile phones to access various apps so they can understand ideas better, check answers and explore concepts.

We should see mobile phones as mini computers, and given many schools can’t afford a laptop for each child they are a valuable tool for many teachers.

They are only a distraction when students are not focused and on social media. Schools can have behaviour policies in place to limit this.

Kartar Uppal

West Midlands

Yes, mobile phones should be banned in schools, but no, it won’t work.

Most classroom mobile use is not for talking but for various social media, which is readily available on computer devices that are usually needed in class. Social media should be banned at home, at least until homework is done, but that option has long been unsupported by parents.

When talking to my own students about classroom distractions they agreed they would learn better without phones but feared missing out if others were still able to use them. They were not able to understand how I could have survived in the 1960s or 1970s without a phone in the house.

The reality in schools must be improved with capable teachers in all classrooms and a more industrious attitude from students, but that approach might be a distant memory from my own youth.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne, Australia

It is intriguing to note the foreign secretary David Cameron’s visit to the Falkland Islands.

The first by a cabinet minister since 2016, Cameron highlighted that the islands’ sovereignty is “non-negotiable” while its residents wish it to remain British.

This is of course intriguing, as Cameron is quite happy to pontificate that these islands should remain British as long as they want to, and yet that rule does not seem to apply to Scotland, where a majority are in favour of independence.

The blatant hypocrisy of the UK government knows no bounds.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

I read Kate Devlin’s article “Keir Starmer calls on Gaza fighting to ‘stop now’” with interest, and the Labour leader is correct to be cautious about the upcoming general election – but also to display a proactive attitude, that his party can win and indeed should.

No one is underestimating the poisoned chalice they will inherit, with all its fiscal constraints. But, my word, we need a political sea change – and I agree with Neil Kinnock that the electoral auspices are looking good.

So yes, it is right to maintain a wait-and-see approach, but also to nurture a real, sustainable feeling of hope and renewal in a Labour government.

Of course, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, but I think she is growing more hoarse day by calamitous day for this Tory government.

Judith A Daniels

Norfolk

Though history may well support the view that only a centrist approach can win you an election in this country, we would do well to remember that not too long ago Boris Johnson won a large majority by simply promising to deliver Brexit.

Mike Webster

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