From cell phone “hotels” to patched-up policies and recalibrated lesson plans, teachers and schools across Canada are learning to navigate a classroom without cell phones.
But some say that despite recent bans and restrictions on phones, little has changed.
Several provinces, including Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, have introduced plans to limit cellphone use starting this school year. There is a mix of restrictions and outright bans.
The changes come as educators are trying to get students to unplug from computers and stay focused, saying online disputes have crept into classrooms and social interactions among young people have declined.
It’s early days and policies are still being worked out, prompting some schools to find creative ways to curb students’ itchy fingers from using cell phones.
In Winnipeg, West Kildonan Collegiate introduced its own ban during the last school year, purchasing 50 cellphone stands on Amazon to place in each classroom.
Each organizer, visible next to the teacher’s desk, contains holders so students can leave their phones at the beginning of class and pick them up at the end.
“They allow the teacher the flexibility to say, ‘We’re going to use the phone to do research or take pictures,’” said West Kildonan Principal Adam Hildebrandt.
Manitoba’s ban applies to students in kindergarten through Grade 8. High school students cannot use their devices during class hours, but can use them during breaks and lunch.
There are exceptions for medical or accessibility reasons, as well as for educational reasons in secondary schools when directed by teachers. It is also up to school divisions to determine where secondary students place their phones while in class.
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In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith’s government announced in June that personal devices must be turned off and stored out of sight during classes starting this month, and school divisions will have until the new year to formalize the rules.
A woman uses her phone as students remain outside after a fire alarm forced the evacuation of a building at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian
There are exceptions for medical or specialized learning needs.
Support Our Students Alberta, a public education advocacy group, calls it a forward-thinking plan implemented in a retrograde manner.
“The launch itself was more chaotic than necessary because the government left it to the authorities after the fact,” said Wing Li, the group’s communications director.
Li said there should have been better consultation with the people actually enforcing the ban.
In Ontario, the cell phone plan is also a work in progress as school boards decide where students should store their devices.
Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, has heard of one case where a principal bought all of the paper bags at a local dollar store.
“They give you a paper bag, you put your cell phone inside, you staple it shut and you leave it on your desk for a while,” he said in an interview.
While it’s an inventive model, Littlewood said, it’s not sustainable.
There are other challenges. While the Ontario government had already put certain restrictions on cellphones in place in 2019, the new rules set out more specific guidelines that are broken down by category.
Teachers’ groups say there needs to be more clarity on how the rules should be enforced and more support for educators to implement them.
“We’re going to run into challenges because of those inconsistencies… so it remains to be seen how this plays out in the end,” Littlewood said.
In Saskatchewan, the head of the province’s teachers’ federation says there are mixed views on the ban.
Samantha Becotte said equitable access to technology in the province’s classrooms is already limited and the ban will make matters worse.
He said some students had been using their cell phones to learn technology because there were not enough computers or tablets to go around.
“Many teachers are having to rework or restructure their lessons and instruction to ensure that children continue to receive engaging lessons,” Becotte said.
On the positive side, the broad consensus among provinces is that the bans are accepted and are working.
In West Kildonan, Winnipeg, Hildebrandt said she has heard stories of students interacting with each other during free time instead of pulling out their phones and writing alone. In one case, two students were reading a magazine together. One was braiding another classmate’s hair.
For some, change is not even a revolution, but an evolution.
In Saskatchewan, Becotte said several of the teachers she heard from were already restricting cellphone use in their classrooms long before the government implemented a provincewide ban.
The same is true in Manitoba.
Kevin Dueck, principal of Westwood Collegiate in Winnipeg, said the high school had already implemented its own restrictions in recent years.
“The change last September, when cell phones were no longer allowed in classrooms, was a cultural shift,” Dueck said.
“But it wasn’t far from what we were doing.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
