1956 called. Can you tell OfSTED they want their approach to technology back?

"And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes" - David Bowie

OfSTED have recently issued a statement talking about the disruption caused in classrooms by tablets and smart phones.  They are having a laugh, aren't they?  It is the equivalent of your parents (if you are my age) staring in unblinking disbelief at The Sex Pistols and spluttering "But ... they ... its just noise!"  The whole point of technology is to disrupt. We are talking fundamentals here ... the raison d'etre. Hulk smashes, the sun shines, fish swim and - whether you like it or not - technology disrupts.  It takes your world, grabs it by the ankles, hangs it upside down and shakes it until all the change falls out of its pockets.  And if you doubt that ask Addison Lee how they feel about Uber.

There are two things about technological disruption that strike at the core of teaching:

1. It renders the entity that is disrupted powerless.  For every teacher I've ever met this flies in the face of everything they have been taught.  It turns the dynamics of a classroom and a school completely on its head.  To have your vocation and profession upended like that is terrifying.  But any railing against it, any barbaric yawps of frustration are simply spitting into the wind.  All you can do is adapt.
2. There is no point trying to stop it.  As soon as you stop it in one place it will pop up in another.  Then you get panicky and start trying to anticipate its appearance.  You end up playing a kind of "Whack-a-mole" with technology and that makes you look ridiculous.  Once that happens, you are just age ranting at youth and from the opposite end of the timeline that is laughable.

So how you adapt to this change - this disruption - is critical to your survival as a teacher.  More importantly, how you adapt will determine the relevance of the school-going experience you offer your pupils.  How?  I don't have the answers unfortunately.  I just know you can't try the prohibition path because it won't work.  It never has.  Ever.

So embrace the change.  Figure out a way to use tablets, smart phones and the associated democratisation of information to make your lessons even better.  To paraphrase Darwin, survival of the fittest isn't so much about strength but about the ability to adapt to change in the environment.  And boy has the environment changed.  Beyond all recognition.  Yet most classrooms still look exactly the same.  I just wish someone at OfSTED realised this.