Teachers want to expand mobile phone ban at secondary schools after early success

Secondary school teachers are generally positive about the government guideline to ban smartphones in the classroom. Most believe the ban led to more calm and concentration in the class, and more than half want to expand the guideline to ban phones from school altogether, according to a survey of 4,206 secondary school staff members by the teacher’s union AOb.

At the start of this year, the Ministry of Education introduced a guideline banning smartphones from the classroom except for educational use. According to the AOb, 67 percent of secondary schools comply with this guideline, following one of three tracks - only allowing phones in class for educational use, completely banning phones from the classroom, and completely banning phones from school, also known as the “at home or in the locker” policy.

When asked about the effects of the ban, teachers frequently reported that there is more calmness in class, and students are able to concentrate more now that phones are not allowed. “Students are more involved and ask better questions,” one respondent said. “They pay more attention to explanations.”

Teachers also noted that students behave more socially. “Students are talking to each other and to me again. There is more contact. It has increased my job satisfaction enormously,” a teacher said.

Eighty percent of surveyed teachers said they need further measures against mobile phone use in schools. More than half said they’d like to go a step further and completely ban phones from the entire school.

The AOb also noted that not all teachers are happy with the ban. About a third said they noticed little difference since students were forced to put away their phones in class. And some teachers said the ban only increased their workloads. They have to walk around and police students instead of teaching, they said.