Just weeks before the start of another school year, educational administrators across Manitoba have received a new directive from the province: student cellphone use is to be banned in classrooms.
The new legislation is about minimizing distractions, says Nello Altomare, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning.
“We want young people to be able to focus in class so they can learn more and feel confident,” says Altomare in a recent press release. “We know cellphones can be a real distraction for students. Studies show it can take up to 20 minutes for a child to refocus on what they were learning once distracted. These provincial guidelines will give teachers the tools they need to keep students focused and ensure class time is spent on learning.”
The ban will ensure that cellphone policy is consistently carried out throughout every division.
For students attending Kindergarten to Grade Eight, a sweeping ban on cellphone use is being implemented during school hours. This includes a ban on use during lunch and other breaks.
The province eases up a bit for students in Grades Nine to Twelve. Here, classroom use is still prohibited but cellphones can be utilized during breaks and the lunch period.
Also at the high school level, teachers will be given the autonomy to allow cellphone use in the classroom as it pertains directly to learning.
Altomare says there will be other exceptions to the rule, too. In cases where cellphone use is required to help support children with medical and diverse learning needs, guidelines will be provided.
The government will also provide direction to school staff on their own level of cellphone use during school hours.
Cellphone bans and restrictions have already been successfully implemented in some Manitoba school divisions in the past.
Last year, the division scolaire Franco-Manitobaine (DSFM) decided to implement a cellphone ban throughout their francophone schools, which virtually mirrors that of the one just introduced by the province.
This year, the DSFM is taking their policy one step further by including a screentime ban which limits computer and tablet use as well.
Prior to the provincial announcement, the Hanover School Division (HSD) also made the decision to implement a cellphone ban in their schools. The decision was made after the Stonybrook Middle School reported a successful conclusion to their pilot program last year.
This decision makes Manitoba the seventh province to ban phones. Others include Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
How Local Parents Feel
The Citizen asked parents to respond to the new policy. The general consensus appears to be that the provincial move is a good one. Some suggest that it’s long overdue.
Shannon Carten of St. Adolphe is in favour of the ban when it comes to minimizing in-class distraction but says these device can perform a pretty important function for a lot of kids outside of school.
“In a world with no landlines, the cellphone is needed for safety,” Carten says. “Not in the classroom but certainly before and after school.”
Carten says that cellphones provide a level of reassurance to parents with students who walk to and from school alone or are chaperoning younger siblings to and from school.
In circumstances like this, it’s important that students be allowed to bring a cellphone into the school, even if it’s stashed away in a locker until the end of the school day.
Stacy McClinton agrees. She speaks to the issue both as a mom and former EA for the Seine River School Division.
“I think phones in the classroom make it easier to fail,” McClinton says. “Back when your choices were to work or stare at your desk, failing was harder. Now these kids pull out their phones and couldn’t care less what’s happening around them.”
Unfortunately, the acceptance of cellphone use in the classroom over past years has normalized them, she says. That’s true for both students and teachers.
For the higher-level classrooms in which she’s worked, McClinton says cellphones became a valuable secondary resource when computers weren’t plentiful enough for every student to access one.
“The teacher can’t say, ‘Oops, it looks like we don’t have any computers left. Go ahead on your cellphones,’” says McClinton. “I wonder if [the province is] going to actually invest in more [school] computers. The kids that didn’t have them were at a disadvantage.”
For McClinton, computer technology hasn’t replaced the library as a research resource, just enhanced it.
“Teachers understand what a healthy learning environment should look like and the library is often a space for study, especially group study,” McClinton adds. “Schools haven’t lost that magic. The library always seems to be the heart of the school because it’s an established safe space for everyone to enjoy. The teachers encourage that.”
But, she says, the fast-paced world we live in makes the internet an incredibly valuable tool. It also helps us access broader perspectives.
As for children who come with medical or diverse learning needs, the use of technology in the classroom is imperative to their educational success.
“For the profoundly disabled, technology can be fundamental not just to education but communication and self-expression,” McClinton says. “I’ve seen children who are nonverbal use apps on a device to communicate. I’ve seen children with vision issues use the zoom feature on a phone or tablet to be able to see text. Students with severe anxiety issues insist on having a quick and easy way to contact their families if they are feeling overwhelmed. Asking the teacher to go to the office so they can call their parents is an absolutely nerve-wracking experience for a child with severe anxiety.”
Cellphones can also function as translation devices for students whose first language is not English. Where motor skills make writing difficult, the keypad can make things easier.
