Classroom cellphone ban won't work without enforcement: educational assistant

Yorkregion.com
March 22, 2019
Teresa Latchford

A student sits at a desk while the teacher gives a calculus lesson at the front of the classroom.

The student is distracted by the subtle buzz of his cellphone and slips it out of his pant pocket to check the text message but keeps it below the desk to not be detected. The educational assistant at the back of the classroom spots the student and asks him to put it away and pay attention to the lesson.

It’s a scenario that happens way too often, according to Newmarket mom and educational assistant Olivia Turner.

“I have worked in high schools for the last five years and it has gotten really bad,” she said. “Students aren’t paying attention and they are missing out on learning. Cellphones are the new way to pass notes in class.”

Ontario Education Minister Lisa Thompson recently announced students won’t be able to bring cellphones to class unless teachers are allowing them for educational reasons.

The ban comes following the results of last fall’s education consultation, where 97 per cent of respondents support some form of cellphone ban, according to a statement released by the education ministry.

It also confirmed cellphones will only be allowed for educational purposes, health and medical purposes or to support special needs.

“By banning cellphone use that distracts from learning, we are helping students to focus on acquiring the foundational skills they need like reading, writing and math,” Thompson also said. “We will be making a formal announcement in the near future.”

While Turner is in full support of a ban, she is curious about enforcement after the ministry confirmed enforcement will be left up to the school boards and teachers.

The York Region District School Board currently has a policy that states “personal technologies” are to be used for educational purposes as defined by the teacher but says little about enforcement.

“Right now we (teachers) have the authority to tell students to put their phones away but it isn’t very effective,” Turner explained. “The students either don’t listen, pull a fit or FaceTime their parents.”

Turner, on more than one occasion, has had students have a tantrum when asked to put their phones away and twice students have called or video chatted their parents and the parents have lectured her right in the middle of the class.

“Parents are enabling the use of phones in the classroom,” she said. “There is a total lack of respect for what we are trying to do in the classroom.”

The alternatives don’t seem like a total solution to Turner either. For example, signal blockers could be installed to block cellphone signals but that would also block the Wi-Fi signals used by classroom laptops to access the internet for educational purposes.

“Collecting phones in a box at the front of the class isn’t really an option either since it makes the teacher liable for swapped, stolen or lost phones,” she said. “I would love to see how they are going implement this ban so it works.”

Turner also believes the ban shouldn’t just apply to students and should extend to the teachers as well.