Blog Juice for Educational Technology

Pupils in an East London school have been banned from raising their hands to answer questions in class because their teachers fear it leads to feelings of victimization, reports the London Telegraph.

While they hogged the limelight, the most able pupils often did not volunteer answers for fear of being labelled as “swots,” which is British slang for students who study excessively.

“There are others who never put up their hands because they have decided that they do not do that bit of the lesson, so they stop listening,” Mr. Buck said. “If you don’t use hands up, the pupils don’t know who you are going to choose, and they all have to think about the question.”

Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said it was the first time he had heard of such a policy.

“The habit will be hard to break, but when you listen to what the head [teacher] says, there may be method in what at first appears to be madness.”

We can only hope.