A report on a French school which has banned the use of mobile phones prompted debate among Beijing’s educators on how best to handle the issue.
A ban on children using phones in all France’s elementary and middle schools was promised in President Macron’s election campaign, and is due to be implemented in September 2018, but remains controversial. “How is the school going to stock them? And how are they going to make sure they’re given back to the owner at the end of school?” said Gérard Pommier, head of the Federation of Parents in State Schools.
The controversy may surprise anyone familiar with British schools. Although there are no laws or policies governing this issue, and it’s left to the discretion of individual head teachers, the use of phones is banned at the vast majority of schools in the UK, with the cardboard box full of confiscated phones a familiar sight.
The report in the Guardian newspaper about a school which implemented a ban four years ago would also seem to quell any concerns. There are few confiscations, no disciplinary or practical issues, and even the students seem happy with the situation. “When I’m with my friends I prefer a proper conversation,” a fifteen-year-old boy is reported as saying. “If you’re all standing around with phones, you talk about what’s on the screen rather than really listening to each other.”
Some Beijing schools though see phones and tablets as an opportunity rather than a threat. Electronics are viewed as an inescapable part of contemporary life, and are used to support learning and facilitate independent research. In one school they are used within the context of personal development: students are encouraged to monitor their use, and to note their feelings on picking up the device, in order to promote self-control.
Confiscation is the usual sanction for inappropriate use, although the value of phones for children’s safety was also noted. “Personally I am against keeping it any longer than the end of the day,” one teacher said. “Some of the students may walk home or be going home to an empty apartment. They need to have a way to reach their parents in case of emergency. I’m not going to be the one who took their phone away and then something happened and they really needed it.”
Another teacher though was adamant that kids and screens shouldn’t mix. “If I had my way, I would just chuck them out of the window,” she said. “Why not turn them off and do something less boring instead?”
Photo: Gulan Bolisay via Flickr
