(Post theme: The Times They Are-A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan)
This is a copy of the feedback I provided to Mahurangi College in response to this consultation request:
The Government has introduced regulations that require all state schools to have student phone rules in use. Rules must be in use as soon as possible in Term 1 2024 and no later than Term 2.
Many countries around the world have successfully banned mobile phones in classrooms, or are in the process of doing so. A solid body of evidence is emerging that supports the banning of phones in schools.
Our draft policy and notes are included here, as well as a space for you to provide some feedback.
So far this term our approach has been to educate – students have had the rules clearly explained, and lots of reminders and warnings have been given. The vast majority of students have adapted very well.
Following your feedback, we will finalise and publish our final policy.
Mahurangi College, February 2024
I understand that the requirement to have a policy has come from the central government, which puts some constraints on what the school can do. However, I had hope that the school would show more courage and defy poor decision making as much as possible. Given that ERO is responsible for monitoring the implementation of these policies, at worst the school would receive a negative comment in a rarely-read review, and by the time the next review cycle came around, it’s likely that a government less interested in pandering to racist, anti-science, scared, old people would be in power.
Any form of defiance would suffice, but I like following the letter of the regulation rather than the intent. The iPhone is famously “an iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator”, and Android phones are widely recognised as being functionally equivalent to iPhones. Students must not be allowed to use or access a phone – but there are no rules about iPods or internet communicators. The answer is clearly that the Phone app on mobile devices must be banned, but using the rest of the device is fine (you could even use a device management profile to disable the Phone app while at school).
This is logically consistent, since students are not only allowed but expected to have other digital devices (such as a laptop), which has exactly the same internet communication functionality (indeed: the permitted smart watches, laptops, tablets, and other devices are essentially the same device as a phone – often running variants of the same operating system on the same chips – just in a different form factor).
Under no circumstances should phones be used to photograph or film any student or member of staff without their permission, or to film any fights or skirmishes.
Mahurangi College Draft Policy
For the record, I have no objection to this as a policy statement, although I would suggest that it’s mistakenly placed in a “mobile phone” policy, given that there are many other devices (and a class that is specifically focused on learning how to use them well) that are capable of photographing or filming a student, and the choice of device is entirely irrelevant.
Mahurangi College Draft Policy
- Headphones & earbuds also cannot be used at school (apart from on buses) as they require connection to a mobile phone.
It’s hard to believe that this passed any sort of quality control. Did you have a junior student write it? I would expect that anyone old enough to work at the school would be familiar with a multitude of devices with which headphones (whether in earbud form or otherwise) can be used. Perhaps the staff might remember using headphones with a record player, Walkman, or Discman? Perhaps some of the staff are familiar with the school’s own requirement that students do have headphones so that they can consume media during class without disturbing other students? Was the author of this policy aware that the school offers classes in music, dance, and media studies, and that film is studied in many of the English classes? Did they know that the laptops that the school requires students have almost universally work with headphones? Given the conflicting policies, which one wins out?
Perhaps you’d consider looking at the actual science? For example, a 2023 study that showed that students using smartphones outperformed those without (Wang, J.C., Hsieh, CY. & Kung, SH. The impact of smartphone use on learning effectiveness: A case study of primary school students. Educ Inf Technol 28, 6287–6320 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11430-9), or the Harvard Graduate School of Education who say that more thought needs to be applied rather than simple bans. Closer to home, Massey University educators clearly state that bans are not the right choice. Or look at meta-studies (for example: Calderón-Garrido, Diego & Ramos-Pardo, Francisco & Suárez-Guerrero, C.. (2022). The Use of Mobile Phones in Classrooms: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET). 17. 194-209. 10.3991/ijet.v17i06.29181), which show benefits in the use of phones at school.
It should be obvious that the ability to have at hand a device that is a calculator, a compass, an e-book reader, a still and video camera, a research tool that would be considered magical even a few decades ago that provides access to nearly all the world’s information, that tracks and provides advice for improvement of health, a torch, a measuring tape, a glimpse into virtual and augmented reality, that receives emergency alerts, and much more is of huge value to a student. Instead of harming their educational development (and providing an environment irrationally different from the world they will enter at the conclusion of secondary school) you should be figuring out ways to make sure that those students who do not have phones are able to use one.
I have no objection to behaviour management, whether during class time or during breaks on the school property or on school trips. If someone is misusing a phone – or anything else – in a way that disrupts their or other students’ learning, then that should be remedied appropriately.
I’m also tolerant of prohibiting access to specific internet properties (TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on), although I do believe that in time prohibition will be demonstrated to a poor approach to the problems that these sites exacerbate.
I have no hope at all that the school will reconsider this policy (although a little hope that someone will realise that headphones can be used with devices other than phones), particularly given the numerous other policies that are clearly either anti-learning or irrelevant to learning. However, I offer this feedback anyway, so that at least you will have heard how wrong you are.
TonyAndrewMeyer 