Our lot seem to leave them in a place, but have access to them whenever. I don’t know why and it isn’t something that we enforce in any way. We don’t seem to have a problem with phones.
We have a phone tub also, the phones get handed in while subs are taken. Many of the cadets have stopped bringing phones to the squadron.
You still collect subs nightly?!
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I thought the Cadet world was all direct debits now? Crikey I think I owe my Sqn months of subs from back when I were a lad 
Used to have a phone tub, but stopped a while ago. Cadets can keep them, only use them at break etc, if they choose to ignore this, we take it off them for the night, and we haven’t had any problems. Also we have a CI who has done lots of Moodle quizzes for Classification studies, so they all use their phones for that, which works really well. I’d sooner make best efforts to teach / encourage them to use their tech sensibly and in an adult way than go for the nuclear option of banning them totally.
Yeah my squodron does the same. We are allowed our phone during break and before first parade then after last parade. We may be allowed our phones out during lessons for reasons such as:
-timers
-looking something up on the internet
-contacting parents for emergencys or to check if cadets can participate in out of normal hours activities.
At our squodron this works really well and if we have our phones out we are told to put them in our pockets (except on parade we aren’t allowed them) or we will be told to put them in our bags.
My sqn try to treat the cadets like ‘young adults’ as far as possible. If they behave like young adults and act maturely then we (the Cdt NCOs) will take a more relaxed approach as we can trust them. However my cadets know that if they start to take the proverbial then they will be dealt with in a harsher way which will reduce their freedoms.
Take phones as an example:
My sqn have no official ‘policy’ on phones. Cadets can bring them, not bring them, have them on them, have them in their bags, whatever. 99% of them will keep them on their person except when doing sports etc. They know the appropriate time for being on their phones and most stick to that. If someone is using it at an inappropriate time then they’ll be told to put it away. It they continue then it’ll be dealt with more seriously but it’s never got to that stage. We respect the cadets and the cadets respect us.
Can I also suggest that maybe your cadets are bored sometimes? I find that if we haven’t planned a good activity then we end up running something which isn’t as exciting resulting in cadets getting bored and going on their phones, messing about etc.
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25 posts were split to a new topic: Cadet Organisation duties and work commitments - A Clash of Things
Find a local CCF with compulsory service, and go and see how they handle things.
At worst, it’ll make you feel better about your discipline problems; but you might learn things, too.
Discipline comes down to consistency, fairness, leading by example (I can’t stress that one enough), and a clear, graduated system of reward and punishment which everyone understands and NCOs don’t try to elaborate or subvert. Underpinning it needs to be a real threat of being asked to leave the Corps, which you must mean but hopefully never actually use.
Respect is earned, as said above; I find the most effective thing is to demonstrate through your actions that everything you are doing is designed to make the experience as good as possible for the cadets under you, rather than, say, feed your ego or impress your mates.
But my NCOs aren’t perfect…
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This topic has been split.
General discussions of squadron discipline, including carriage and access to mobile phones for cadets and staff alike, can continue here.
The digression into why somebody’s employer might possibly expect them to be contactable 24/7, and how that might interfere with cadet duties, should take place in the new thread. This has been placed in the staff area as it is most applicable, but it is reasonable to expect that a cadet’s employer may be placing similar demands, so it is not exclusive to CFAVs.
Life can be boring, people get bored it’s a fact, why should cadets expect to be any different and why should it be allowed to be an excuse or reason for poor behaviour or fiddling with phones.
The ATC is not a 24/7 entertainment provider.
May be cadets could be encouraged to talk to each other rather than reaching for the electronic pacifiers.
If they are getting bored, get them outside for some drill. Immediate control.
If cadets are doing nothing except waiting, I don’t see an issue with them being on their phones. I’m sure you’ll disagree but you can still socialise and use your phone.
I never once suggested that the ATC is a “24/7 entertainment provider”, infact i’d suggest it’s a 2/2 entertainment provider. If you can’t keep cadets busy and engaged then they’re going to get bored and find other ways to entertain themselves (and that includes both socialising and using phones). Drill isn’t always the solution though. For a start it is weather dependant but also things like classification training can be (and i’d suggest is 99% of the time, but thats another debate) boring, you can’t just stop that.
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Cadet04 please stay on as staff when you age out. I mean that sincerely not sarcastically!
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Always looked to drill as part of the programme but using it just because cadets are bored like a punishment would I feel be counterproductive.
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Drill should never be a gap filler or method of punishment.
Like everything else it should be structured so people develop and it has a purpose
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If you are having trouble controlling them, it brings the control immediately. It doesn’t necessarily have to be drill just bring them to attention in the room. This one of the thing we did as cadets and I remember being made to stand in the corridor lined up in silence in school when classes didn’t settle down. Same thing.
You don’t say “this being used as a punishment”. If they regard it as a punishment so be it, the solution can be pointed out.
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I agree with part of that but if you treat them like a school it won’t be as enjoyable. I understand cadets need to be under control and all but one of the reasons I love cadets so much is because you can have a laugh in lesson and not get into trouble or something similar. Something my squodron’s NCO’S and SNCO’S use for discipline is drill and it works very affectively and improves our drill allot. I’m not saying for every 5 minutes but if you really can’t get cadets to concentrate it works even if it’s just 10-20 mins of drill and even if they don’t like it well they can put up with it untill they learn how to behave.
Have a laugh by all means and I do my best to lighten things in the classroom, although I have to temper things as my humour around double entendres and word play misses cadets and can be a little risque, but it has to be remembered that it stops, or else get treated like a 5 year old. We could treat them like young adults, but that might not go down very well at all.
But what seems to be mentioned is the general low level disruption which the NCOs are unable to get a handle on. Unfortunately as staff you can only do so much other than remind them, step in too much and it does them no favours and defeats the object of having NCOs.
All of these "what do we do about “discipline”’ seem to believe there is a magic bullet and there isn’t. It’s about being consistent and constant reminding, there is no magic bullet, as a CO if there was I’d deploy it, but my hands are tied to reminders about expectations and not doing things, which only has any relevance if it’s something they wanted to do.
Although like I said I throw the “what were you like” at them, which makes them think, if nothing else.
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