No single view on cellphone and mobile bans in Canada
Although there is generally an acceptance that cellphones and social media can create unwanted distractions in the classroom, there is no clear consensus in Canada as to whether a ban on cellphones in schools is the right way to go. Some provinces have gone ahead with phone bans in schools including B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The policies vary from region to region and across different age groups.
Where has the trend come from?
There are many sources now flagging concerns about the impact that smartphones and social media are having on young peoples’ mental health and the distraction these can be in a learning environment. There is some evidence that smartphones can be helpful as a learning tool when well managed but there is also mounting evidence both anecdotal and research based that smartphones in schools are counterproductive, cause a distraction and reduce focus and learning outcomes.
What are schools doing currently to reduce the problem?
It is not a new concern. Schools have had policies in place to manage phone use for years including phones having to be in bags or left at the front of the classroom and switched off during class. Phone lockers or pouches have been introduced in some schools requiring students to leave their phone in their locker for the day. Other teachers feel that phones can be actively used in the classroom as part of the lesson plan and believe that a ban is counterproductive. Many teachers have concerns about the use of phones in schools both in and outside of the classroom and highlight the issues, their schools approaches and the pros and cons of phones use in the classroom in an reddit discussion from April 2024.
What do parents think?
There has been significant support for cellphone free schools and childhoods from some parents but there are others who use their child’s smartphone as a way of staying in close touch with during the school day. Creating a policy that is supported by teachers, administrators, parents and pupils is likely to be difficult to achieve.
The locker or pouch approach
Providing mobile phone lockers for schools has both cost and physical logistics issues. The cost of lockers can be in the region of $35 per pupil. In a large high school with 800+ pupils that’s an outlay of $28,000.
Cellphone pouches like Yondr have also been trialled, and the cost is $25 in the first year with ongoing annual fees and replacement costs. The outcomes have been mixed with some schools reporting a successful implementation and others concluding that they are not a long term solution after students found their way around the technology.
Both the locker and pouch approach require a level of trust that pupils will do as they are asked and place their phone in the locker or pouch.
Is there an alternative?
The Scout™ is a small handheld device developed to provide an easy-to-use monitoring and auditing tool for schools to detect mobile phones in classrooms and exam conditions.
In a recent test in a specialist sixth form in the UK, our team demonstrated the Scout™’s capabilities. The policy at the school is for phones to be placed in lockers at the beginning of the day and retrieved at the end. The head teacher was confident that the students were abiding by the rules.
In the first small classroom of 12 pupils, we discovered one phone within a couple of minutes. This led to another student volunteering their phone for fear of sanctions. In the second classroom a similar outcome and in the third classroom of 24 students, 8 phones were detected.
Cost comparison – Scout™ vs lockers or pouches
The Scout costs $1750 which is equivalent to providing lockers for about 50 students. If a school has spent $28,000 on lockers, then it is key that this policy is verified and audited as having the effect the school is seeking.
Alternatively, if no investment in lockers has been made, the Scout allows for a “phones in bags and switched off” policy to be tested and verified frequently at just over 6% of the outlay of lockers and no cost to parents.
How does the Scout™ work?
The Scout is a small handheld device that can scan for any form of data signal transmitted when a cellphone or similar device is switched on. Even when it’s not being used the phone will give off a signal that can be found by the Scout. Scanning can be done in the area of a single classroom or a quick change of settings will allow you to check for phones across a wider area such as an exam hall.
This simple device works brilliantly in schools to support distraction free learning, empowering our teachers and children to get the best out of their classroom time.