While the idea of banning high school students from using mobile phones is back on the political agenda, many have been doing just that with varied and sometimes unexpected results.
Key points:
- NSW Labor’s proposed mobile ban in high schools has been trialled by some schools in the past
- Toormina High School’s principal says its strategy achieved tangible results
- However, he said the phone ban had led to some students leaving the school
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has pledged to ban mobile phones in government schools across the state if his party forms government next year, but at Toormina High on the NSW Mid North Coast, a phone ban has come with challenges.
The school has been using lockable phone pouches since 2019 and principal Steve Humphrey says the approach has pros and cons.
“Kids have lost the Yondr pouches that they were issued, and it’s very expensive to replace them,” he said.
“[But] we certainly have less disruption in the classroom and the playground.”
Each morning, students must lock their phones into the neoprene magnetic pouch and then they are unlocked at the end of the school day.
Mr Humphrey believes an overarching piece of government legislation would help enforce rules about mobile phone use in schools.
“The advantages of having a policy where it’s the government supporting schools certainly strengthens what we do in schools,” he said.
Student safety would also need to be a factor in any blanket mobile phone ban, particularly at schools like his own where students travel significant distances by bus, Mr Humphrey said.
“[A ban] will be problematic in schools like mine because of that travel need,” he said.
Students vote with their feet
Another side effect of Toormina High School’s ban has been the loss of senior students to the nearby government school, Coffs Harbour Senior College.
“Part of the reason [for leaving Toormina High School] … is that they can use their phone at the senior college,” Mr Humphrey said.
“[The ban] will stop some of my kids leaving.”
Older students at Toormina High are given phone privileges during the day.
The school provides an established area for Year 11 and 12 students where phone use is permitted.
But Mr Humphrey says policing mobile phone use has proven difficult.
“They’ll then push the envelope and go ahead into the playground with their phone and they then set up that really poor example to the rest of the school,” he said.
Mr Humphrey said the lack of phones has created a better culture at the high school.
Before the mobile phone ban, students would often call parents when there were issues in the classroom or playground. Now students are turning to staff for help.
“The kids are coming to talk to us,” Mr Humphrey said
“We’re making the phone calls, we’re supporting the child that way so we’re aware of what’s going on before we have an upset parent on the phone.”
Playground sees ‘increased level of noise’
Mr Humphrey said that the removal of mobile phones had also resulted in a reduction in school bullying and a generally calmer school environment.
“Certainly, we’ve seen less disruption in the classroom,” he said.
There has been some backlash from parents. Mr Humphrey says it is often from those who are unable to come and collect their child’s phone when it’s been confiscated.
“We do negotiate, [and] talk to parents and make arrangements where possible,” he said.
While Mr Humphrey says there have been a variety of positives and downsides to the ban, there is one that stands out as surprising.
“We actually, very strangely, had a complaint about an increased level of noise in the playground because kids started to talk to each other and play instead of just sitting on a mobile phone,” he said.
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