School phone ban - how’s it going?

Curious about the experience with school phone bans - how is compliance? Is it making a difference?

DS (year 11) reports that at least 70% of kids still have their phones on them at all times. Most teachers don’t support the ban, and some even allow phone usage (for hot spotting or taking photos / video). Is this the case at other schools? If it is, what’s the point of the ban? Does it keep phone usage down to a less problematic dull roar? Is it used as an easy ‘gotcha’ for kids seen as troublemakers?

I’d love to hear from both parents and teachers.

Mobiles are not banned at ds highschool but they are not to be used in class, as a parent I agree should not be allowed in class but I am,not bothered other than that with their use

I'm not sure what it accomplishes - don't most high schools have laptops? Wouldn't they just use apps on the laptops?

Phones have been banned at my (workplace) school for a long time and only seniors are allowed to have laptops in class.

I love having no phones in the classroom. The policy has been in place - and reinforced - for so long that compliance is very very good (and these are students who are otherwise not great at following instructions!). It makes it simple for them. Kids don’t need to be fighting temptation all day long.

At DD's school phones are not to be seen between start and end of the day. She sticks to this. She does say some teachers allow the phones in class time for specific reasons. They all have laptops. DD will email me through the day if she has something to say.

I think even a ban that has a little bit of rule breaking or give in it is better than open slather use of phones throughout the day. My main concern would be the taking of photos through the day.

At my kids’ high school they aren’t allowed in class (so are kept in school bags), but occasionally, the teachers themselves will suggest that they be used to take photos relevant to field work. Students are allowed to use them at recess & lunch. My kids tell me that they don’t usually use theirs as they’d rather interact face to face with their friends. I am happy with their school’s policy.

The HS that I work at has never allowed phones and we are very strict. As a teacher, I don't know any difference but others that have been at other schools who aren't as strict/have different rules, rave about how much better it is without them.

The illegal trouble kids are getting themselves into with anything with internet access and a camera is beyond disturbing.

I agree about the laptops/devices. They are horrible for learning. And the studies show this. Then there is the distraction factor. If you want kids to be quiet, not bother you or anyone else give them a laptop and they keep themselves busy for an hour on stupid games. It's bliss and totally unproductive. I very rarely use them in my lessons unless it's for explicit teaching of IT skills, not day to day stuff.

Since the state wide ban last year, it has been amazing. I had low expectations, but students in general have been so good as its not just them with no phone but everyone. Of course students have e phones with them, but the consequences for using them are pretty high so they don't bother.

They do communicate with each other via laptops, but its a lot easier to keep track of than via phone.

Its made students actually play at lunchtime, and walk around the school instead of sitting on their phones (so good!).

I'm not a coordinator, but my office is the coordinators office and there have definitely been lass cases of cyber bullying. They still happen, but its far less common.

Compliance at my school is very good. I have absolutely no doubt some of them are carrying their phones secretly, but they are not using them in class, so that's awesome. Previously, they caused problems on a daily basis - the kids really seemed to think they were entitled to text/play on their phones while I was teaching. They were not. And they would react with umbrage when informed of this. And then they (or their parents) would wonder why they weren't learning anything - ummm, if you actively refuse to participate in a lesson, how is the learning going to happen? By osmosis? I'm good at teaching maths, so let me teach you.

So now that the phone issue is solved, I'm dealing with laptops. We have a 1-1 laptop program, and I strongly believe these laptops are harming their education. No matter how much our IT team locks down the laptops to prevent off-task behaviour, the kids find something interesting to do on them that is not maths. They enter the classroom and immediately open them, before I've even told them what we'll be doing. And then I ask them all to close their laptops - because if they're open, they absolutely won't absorb anything I'm teaching - but a few of them just flat-out refuse. They're so addicted. For the first month of this term, I didn't use laptops in class at all. I uploaded materials they could use at home, but they used pen and paper in class. I killed a fuckload of trees, but my kids' productivity was good.

Unfortunately, our school ran out of resources (yep) so I had to start letting them access online materials in class. But they are just out of control - they switch tabs constantly, and can't focus. I have to literally stand next to each kid to make sure they're opening the right files... but as soon as I walk away towards another kid, they switch to another tab. Some of them do zero maths in maths class. What is the point of me even being there?

So, if your kid has their own school laptop, this is an issue you should be aware of.

As someone who is easily distracted online. And a teacher in training. And a parent. I absolutely loathe the one-to-one tablet/laptop in school thing. Would much prefer a bank of tablets/laptops that can be used on a class by class basis as needed.

Add to that the fact that kids seem to be learning to use apps etc but not actually programming? Which is the important thing to learn of you want to actually be able to use the power of a computer. I remember in year 8 and 9 at high school we all learnt basic programming as a standard computing subject. So valuable.

Compliance at my school is very good. I have absolutely no doubt some of them are carrying their phones secretly, but they are not using them in class, so that's awesome. Previously, they caused problems on a daily basis - the kids really seemed to think they were entitled to text/play on their phones while I was teaching. They were not. And they would react with umbrage when informed of this. And then they (or their parents) would wonder why they weren't learning anything - ummm, if you actively refuse to participate in a lesson, how is the learning going to happen? By osmosis? I'm good at teaching maths, so let me teach you.

So now that the phone issue is solved, I'm dealing with laptops. We have a 1-1 laptop program, and I strongly believe these laptops are harming their education. No matter how much our IT team locks down the laptops to prevent off-task behaviour, the kids find something interesting to do on them that is not maths. They enter the classroom and immediately open them, before I've even told them what we'll be doing. And then I ask them all to close their laptops - because if they're open, they absolutely won't absorb anything I'm teaching - but a few of them just flat-out refuse. They're so addicted. For the first month of this term, I didn't use laptops in class at all. I uploaded materials they could use at home, but they used pen and paper in class. I killed a fuckload of trees, but my kids' productivity was good.

Unfortunately, our school ran out of resources (yep) so I had to start letting them access online materials in class. But they are just out of control - they switch tabs constantly, and can't focus. I have to literally stand next to each kid to make sure they're opening the right files... but as soon as I walk away towards another kid, they switch to another tab. Some of them do zero maths in maths class. What is the point of me even being there?

So, if your kid has their own school laptop, this is an issue you should be aware of.

In the top two classes, teachers start with a segment of didactic teaching when everyone pays attention, followed by exercises when those who’ve finished the exercises can work ahead on their laptops. It should be noted that kids have to apply to be in these classes and accepting a place comes with a contractual agreement which includes acceptable student effort & behaviours.

We have BYOD Ipads for prep to Grade 2. DS takes his in Monday and back Friday. I check the battery and have a usage report. They barely use them at school. It was a lifesaver during remote learning but I truly wonder if class sets would be better...

My kids' HS have always had them banned.

Their laptops are all leased by the school so the school will wipe any games of they are being a problem. With my son's school, their laptops can only access the internet through the school browser so if they're logged on at home they still can't go to any random site, they are locked to the school server

So the “phone ban” you are referring to only applies to Victoria, is that right?.

My kids go to public high schools in Sydney. DD’s school doesn’t have a ban. They need to be off the desk during class time although sometimes they are asked to use them to take a photo of something on the board. Usually one person would take the pic and then email it to the class.

During breaks they are free to use them. Sometimes they get misused but on the whole I don’t hear of many problems. It’s very handy to be able to communicate with DD about changing plans, pickups etc. the other day she wasn’t feeling well and texted me to say she was heading to the office. By the time they called me to pick her up I was already in the school car park waiting for her.

At DS’s school they are not supposed to use them at all during school hours. I have received the occasional text from him but generally he follows the rules. I really don’t see much difference between his school experience and DD’s. DS would always opt to play handball or soccer over sitting around on phones, regardless of the rules.

I’m happy for primary schools to have phone bans but I think teens need to learn how to use them responsibly.

I’m in WA. Pretty sure the state wide ban in state schools has been going for 2-3 years now. Kids can have their homes but they must be in the bag and in airplane mode. Heck they aren’t even allowed smart watches. My son had his confiscated and dropped off at student services even though I’d confirmed with a teacher that he was allowed it (apparently she was incorrect, even though it has no connection to a phone and didn’t receive notifications). They are compliant as otherwise teacher confiscate them and drop them at student services to be picked up after school finishes.

Regarding laptops - our school doesn’t so laptops or iPads unless it’s for media class or info tech class. In the case of my son, I’m actually having to justify why he should be taking a laptop/iPad next term to accommodate some issues he is having. Actually they barely seem to even write in their books and get given worksheets and handouts galore!

I have stayed away from taking my school down a 1:1 iPad or laptop program (primary). So many schools in my area are BYOD 1:1. We have some parents choose us because of no BYOD and some go elsewhere wanting it. Personally I think the devices would (and should) sit idle for 3/4 of the day. So much learning can happen at a primary level with pen/paper/social/hands on materials. I see little to gain from use of devices most of the day.

We do have plenty of primary kids bring phones to school. The other day a child phoned home without us knowing and was picked up. We thought the child was missing. Turns out had been picked up by parent without us knowing.

Not banned at my girls high school.

Not supposed to be used during class. How strictly this is enforced is dependent on the class and the teacher.

My girls have all been in the extension classes at high school. For the most part, the phone ban has been pretty relaxed for their classes - no issues with people using their phones to listen to music while doing independent work, or during down time with all work completed. School use as well with looking things up informations, for music is dance class, using the calculator, taking photos of the work on the board for reference later - last one particularly helpful for my dd1 with dyslexia who was very slow in coping work,

No phone calls, and phones do need to be on silent - no phones ringing or msgs dinging.

From what I’ve gathered, the phone ban does tend to be held a bit more strictly in some of the more disruptive classes.

Personally, I’m happy with the balance. Monitored in class, with the option to ban, allowed in the grounds. Personally, by high school, the phones don’t seem to have affected “play” that much. The sporty kids are still going to the oval and playing sport. Organised lunch time activities of sports, dance, drama, drum Corp, art club, chess club, anime club. Even a once a week reading club where they open up one of the classes that has comfy seating, beanbags etc, and just let the kids sit and read.

Laptops are a school bank that are booked for classes. BYOD is an option if you want but usually only taken up by the seniors. Again, happy with the mix - use of laptops for research, google classroom used a lot, but still plenty of pen and paper.

Much better for teaching and paying attention. It was really hard to reinforce when we returned from lockdowns but seems to be much better now.

Agree completely- laptops don’t aid learning in the classroom much. Students mostly prefer textbooks in hard copy and they don’t get taught the explicit skills to work their laptops effectively.

[mention]Jerry[/mention] I am glad to hear from a principal not going down the 1-1 iPad route in primary. I would be very supportive of that.

@Jerry I am glad to hear from a principal not going down the 1-1 iPad route in primary. I would be very supportive of that.

I should ask DD how much iPad time they have at the new school. At the old they did digital literacy once a week (coding and stuff), and did use them at other times, but I’m not sure how many the school had. There were plenty of parents who felt it was too much!

DS 11 school rule is if a phone is seen it gets confiscated till the end of the day.

Oh, primary school, I completely agree with a complete ban. Hand in at the office on arrival at school,

And again, our primary had no byod. Laptops were in a school bank that the classes booked for small periods of time, and small number of iPads that again could be booked for a class, All occasional things, not continual teaching, and I was really happy about that,

2 people I know work in schools. Both have said the phone ban has been fantastic. Not just in class but apparently less bullying during recess and lunch too, and more traditional socialisation. Kids don’t just sit in a row and ignore each other anymore. Their schools have rules that phones are in bags all day, and kids have complied pretty well.

Our primary has school devices to use as needed and booked out. But none of the primary schools here have a 1:1 program. I believe the Catholic highschool has a 1:1 device program but the iPads and chrome books are supplied by the school and regularly wiped and have restricted access.

In Victoria so the ban is in place. DS current school which used to be very heavy on them having two devices (usually laptop and phone), has moved well to just the one. His school is very tech based though. The "calculator" they use for senior years is actually a program on their computer (allowed under VCE rules), rather than an actual calculator, so they need laptops for maths classes. DS tends to take all his notes on his laptop too, as he has issues with handwriting. They are allowed phones under teacher instruction, usually just when they need to take photos for something, but this happens very rarely. They even have to leave phones in lockers for swimming and athletic sports days.

Previous school had the ban for a few years, however after an incident where they left DS in sick bay having an asthma attack and he was terrified (fairly newly diagnosed), he always carried it as he didn't trust the school to look after him. He got in trouble one day for being both in the locker area and on the phone after the bell went, but he was on the phone to his dad after sick bay told him to go to class even though he was vomiting - he passed the phone to the teacher and his dad dealt with that problem. Kind of reinforced his perception that school wouldn't look after him though.

I still can't believe phones were ever allowed. I found that jaw droppingly stupid when the kids came home and said they could use their phones in class. They said a whole bunch of the guys did nothing but swap porn around.