The Education Review Office says the government should consider taking its mobile phone ban a step further and block children's access to social media during school hours.
In a report published on Thursday, Do not disturb: A review of removing cell phones from New Zealand's classrooms, the review office said the 'phones away for the day' policy was working, though parents undermined it with phone calls and messages and many schools allowed some use of phones for educational purposes.
The report said 90% of schools had banned students from using phones at any time during the school day and most teachers it surveyed said the policy improved student behaviour and achievement.
However, it found a lot of secondary students did not comply with the policy — nearly half said they had sometimes used their phone in class and more than a third said they used their phones during breaks, in places that were out of teachers' sight, or during class-time breaks.
"Older students told us that they often find covert ways to continue using their cell phones, especially if they feel the rules are unreasonable or poorly enforced. Students expressed that the presence of 'rules' means that some will automatically want to rebel, showing an increased desire to bring the 'prohibited item' to school as a form of resistance. They are also more sensitive to how rules are enforced and more likely to push back if they feel they're being treated unfairly or being patronised," the report said.
Ruth Shinoda from the Education Review Office said schools were doing a "great job" enforcing the rules, but caregivers were still contacting students. (Source: Breakfast)
It also found that where students were breaking the rules, it was likely because parents were contacting them during school hours.
In addition, 76% of secondary schools and 35% of primary schools allowed students to use their phones in class for specific purposes, such as if they did not have a laptop or needed to take photographs.
However, 61% of teachers surveyed for the report said student achievement had improved since the 'phones away for the day' policy was introduced last year and 77% said student behaviour had improved.
Fifty-nine percent of secondary teachers said bullying had improved since the policy's introduction and 63% said students' mental health had improved.
Half the students who said they used their phones during school time said they did so to stay connected with family, and 37% said they were connecting with friends.
"More work needs to be done to ensure that both parents and students understand and are complying with the new rules. Compliance is more difficult with older students, and additional mechanisms to ensure compliance are required (such as enforcement). We are seeing that parents may be undermining compliance," the report said.
The report recommended continuing the policy and said secondary schools should enforce it with consequences because that was the most effective approach.
It also recommended the government consider further action to remove other digital devices such as smartwatches and "consider ways to further reduce digital distractions by limiting or removing student access to social media during school hours".
The report was based on survey responses from nearly 2000 teachers and principals and 3691 students, as well as focus groups with more than 65 participants.
ERO evaluation centre head, Ruth Shinoda, told RNZ it would be difficult to directly attribute any changes in achievement rates to the phone ban because there were many other changes happening in schools but it was clearly beneficial.
"Teachers are a really reliable source so if they say that it's leading to focus and improved achievement we do expect that to flow through into the data," she said.
Shinoda said schools with strong enforcement had the best results in terms of student compliance with the rules.
"We'll have even better results if we have more students complying," she said.
"Only half of secondary students comply and half don't and the main reason for that is contacting or being contacted by their parents."
Shionda said students were twice as likely to break the rules if they attended schools where there was parental resistance to the rules.
What teachers and students had to say
Teachers reported inconsistency in their application of the rules, with some being relaxed and others strict, and some said enforcing the rules could damage their relationships with students.
"Students don't like rules around their phones. They try to beat the system all the time. They also get angry and sometimes aggressive when challenged to hand it in," one teacher said.
The report said "the few teachers and leaders who saw no change in student engagement or focus" reported other sources of distraction such as smartwatches and laptops.
"They just use their laptops to message now instead of cell phone. Simply moved the problem," one teacher said
However, others said the policy had improved behaviour, bullying and students' focus on their work.
"This has been one of the best policies the school could have implemented. The cyber bullying was at an all-time high before the policy was put in place. Now students talk to each other, and our students play," a secondary school leader said.
"My teaching time has slightly improved because I'm not managing phone use in class," a teacher said.
"For a bulk of them who we would normally just see sitting against a wall on their phones, they're actually out there talking and doing stuff. And even if it is our Year 11s and 12s, so they actually end up wrestling half the time. It's still blowing off steam, which is more constructive than just standing there," said another.
Students acknowledged the phone rule was good for them.
"I think so far [the rules are] positive. There's no more of me looking at my phone in my pocket no more, neglecting my learning in the middle of classes," a senior secondary student said.
"I love using my phone. It has everything on it. It's efficient. But with this ban, it taught me some restraint and I would say that I am able to focus better because I can't use it. I got to do my work now. It just taught me how to prioritise things better," said another.
But others told the report they sometimes ignored the rules and some resented them.
"The students are sneaky, they use their phones all the time, like in bathrooms and in class time, but the teachers never catch them," a student told the review office.
"Teachers use their phones right in front of us and when we use them we get them taken off instantly. Also I find it extremely unfair we can't use them during our break time," said another.
One student warned that socially-isolated students were worse off because of the ban.
"I think the extremes have gotten worse. For example, the lonelier kids are getting lonelier. Especially students who don't connect to people in real life. They don't have that access to social media where that might be a safe space for them. And so now they're just kind of sitting in the corner on their laptop," they said.
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