News & Views
The iPod Blazer
By Terry Freedman
Mon, 18 Aug 2008, 10:31

A major UK retail store has brought out an "ipod blazer" as part of its "Back to School" range. Amongst other things, the new jacket enables the earphone wires to be concealed under the lapels.

"An error of judgement", exclaims one of the teaching unions.

So what are the issues here?

The store in question is Marks and Spencers. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, the blazer:

"features an inside pocket and five function keypad controller built into the lapel area of the lining. This enables the child to play, pause, fast forward and rewind tracks on their iPod and has lapel loops that conceal the earphone wires."

The NASUWT maintains that this will encourage pupils to flout school rules -- and, indeed, will legitimise that attitude.

Well, here are my views on the matter:

1. None of this is actually new. When I started teaching kids were bringing their Sony Walkmans into class and trying to surreptitiously listen to them during lessons. In those days they used headphones rather than earphones, which in theory makes them harder to conceal.
   
   But kids are and always have been ingenious at finding ways to circumvent rules. Long hair, turned-up collars and crouching over desks were some of the techniques used. I never had any difficulty in seeing what they were doing, and quite frankly I'd be very surprised indeed if the average teacher is so inattentive that they couldn't see -- or hear -- what a child is up to.
   
   
2. I may have missed something, but isn't an incredibly obvious solution to the problem to instruct the pupils to take their blazers off when they enter the classroom?
   
   
3. Does such an item of school uniform encourage a flouting of the rules? Well, I suppose looked at in one way it does, but a blanket ban on iPods and items of clothing that are able to integrate them surely overlook potentially good uses of technology in education?
   
   Apart from uses like recording what the teacher is saying and listening to podcasts, some pupils work better when they are listening to music. When I was teaching I used to play music CDs whilst the students worked, but of course the disadvantage in those days was that everyone had to listen to the same thing. These days, each pupil could listen to the music that works for them.
   
   Obviously, you don't want students listening to music while you're trying to talk to them, but that's a different issue anyway because it's to do with behaviour and other factors, not the technology per se.

I'd be interested in your views on this. Indeed, I'd be interested in what your students think about the matter too.

© Terry Freedman Mon, 18 Aug 2008