David sits in the office, tapping the arm of the chair and staring through the window at the sports fields and the trees beyond.The head teacher begins. She explains that the advanced behaviour tracking (ABT) system has signalled that he is an immediate threat, so the school has had to call in the police.
David glances at the two young officers sitting in the corner of the room, staring right at him. He looks back to the headteacher. “ABT says there’s an 81 per cent risk that you will commit a violent act in the next three days,” she continues, her hands shaking. “There is a 67 per cent chance that act will be fatal to another student. There is an 87 per cent risk you will also do harm to yourself. This crosses all our pre-approved thresholds for action within the ABT system.” David thinks back to the questions.He tries to work out which one gave him away. He touches the patch on his arm, and tries to work out what bits of information he unwittingly gave up. He pictures the smart cameras dotted around the school, and wonders what they saw and heard.
He looks at his mum and pushes his bag further under the headteacher’s desk with his foot. He tries to work out whether they know already that inside the bag is a knife and that today he intended to use it.
This scenario probably seems unlikely to you. Pre-crime detection is the stuff of science fiction and even if the technology did exist to track behaviour and make predictions, the ethical and privacy concerns of such technology would surely mean it would never find its way into schools.
Denne historien er fra November 01, 2019-utgaven av TES.
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Denne historien er fra November 01, 2019-utgaven av TES.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Try not to get hung up on linguistic convention, chic@s
Languages are like water – they take the easiest route. And, like gender, they are fluid. That is why, as world languages evolve to reflect cultural change, a revolution is under way in the use of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ terms, writes Heather Martin
Three simple psychology tips for better behaviour
When a pupil is acting up, their motivations are often hidden from view. It’s possible that teachers themselves are partially at fault for setting the wrong tone in their interaction with others, writes Lekha Sharma, who suggests ways to remodel a school culture
This research could be music to your ears…
Schools should resist putting additional time and resources into yet more English and maths lessons and instead give children’s learning a research-evidenced boost by encouraging them to join a band or an orchestra, says Martin Leigh
Minority (school) report
Predictive technology – powered by increasingly complex algorithms – is finding its way into schools, promising to pre-empt misbehaviour, violence or mental health issues before they happen. But does it work, and is its use ethical, asks Simon Creasey
Giving school a spin again
In a bid to improve parental engagement, one Edinburgh school is putting parents in their children’s shoes to experience a typical modern school day – and the results are breathtaking, finds Emma Seith
Averting Pupils' Social Stigma By ‘Poverty Proofing'
Do your school policies unintentionally ‘out’ children from disadvantaged backgrounds? One charity says such occurrences are all too common and have proposed ‘poverty proofing’ as the solution. Lucy Edkins investigates
A Plant-Based Diet Of Learning
Aware of the mental health benefits of green-fingered working, Nigel Cox helped to set up an outreach course at his college to support people recovering from substance abuse and other personal challenges
Social And Emotional Skills In The Early Years
Children who are able to focus their attention, manage their behaviour and interact positively with others from a young age experience better learning outcomes later in life, finds Irena Barker
How Centralised Detentions Get Pupils' Attention
By adopting a consistent whole-school approach to rewards and sanctions, we achieved a marked improvement in attitudes to learning – and reduced teachers’ workload, says Calvin Robinson
Homework Truths
With some studies claiming that homework has little or no impact on pupil achievement, schools have been tempted to cut back on it or ban it altogether. But we shouldn’t write homework off, warn two gurus of UK education research. Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major argue that the evidence on homework has been misrepresented – and out-of-school study can, in fact, have a major impact on learning outcomes
