The B.C. government’s ban on the use of smartphones, tablets, earbuds and smartwatches during school hours will be in force this week as students return for the first week of classes.
Premier David Eby announced the mandate in January, telling all 60 B.C. school districts to update their codes of conduct by the start of the 2024-25 school year to include language around personal digital device use.
Aimed at “keeping kids safe online and in school,” public schools must ban any use during classes and consider banning use during recess and lunch.
Here’s what to know about the new policy.
Where did the school phone ban come from?
The ban on personal devices was introduced by Eby to improve online safety for children and youth.
The government said, “Research shows that frequent cellphone interruption in the classroom, social media platforms with addictive algorithms and predators who seek to exploit young people all present significant risks to young people.
“Studies have found that children’s mental health and physical safety can suffer as a result of body-image distortion, cyberbullying, images shared without consent and disturbing instances of sextortion.”
According to the government’s 2023 B.C. adolescent health survey, 75 per cent of students used social media on the last school day before taking the survey and 90 per cent played games.
Eby goes on to say that rules are needed to reduce distractions in classrooms and support focused learning environments, foster online safety and promote provincial consistency.
What does the ban on phones in schools change?
Until now, it was up to each school district to come up with its own policy. Under the provincial move, each school district was to update their codes of conduct to detail what device uses are restricted.
School districts were allowed to tailor their codes to allow secondary students to use devices during recess and lunch.
Teachers and administrators are responsible for enforcing the codes.
Are there exemptions to the ban?
Each district must also add to their code device uses that are acceptable.
Codes of conduct were required to allow device use for instructional purposes, including digital literacy, and to accommodate students whose only access to the internet is at school.
The codes must also allow device use for students with disabilities or other needs, and who have individual education plans.
Device use for monitoring health is also permitted.
What do the teachers think of the cellphone ban?
B.C. Teachers’ Federation boss Clint Johnston says rules around cellphone use in schools should be dealt with on a school district level — not be dictated by government.
“In B.C., many school districts have long had policies about cellphones. This is an issue best dealt with at that level, or even classroom to classroom in partnership with teachers,” Johnston said. “While some teachers enjoy using cellphones as a learning tool, others find them to be a distraction.”
Johnston said there are other problems in classrooms that are a higher priority than electronic devices.
“Cellphones are just one factor among many adding to the complexity of classrooms today, and while teachers are happy to see attention given to classroom needs, there are much higher priorities than cellphones,” he said.
“There is a staffing crisis across schools in B.C., and teachers need adequate resources to ensure no child goes without the support they need. It’s not sustainable to keep reassigning specialist teachers like counsellors and librarians to fill gaps in classrooms, or to expect teachers to handle increasingly complex classrooms without enough educational assistants to help.”
What cellphone bans did school districts impose?
Many school districts on southern Vancouver Island, including Sooke, Greater Victoria, Saanich and Cowichan Valley, already had policies in place for cellphone use in schools, so the new policies aren’t expected to change things much. Here’s an example of the policies:
• The Greater Victoria school district has posted a code of conduct update on the use of cellphones and personal digital devices on its website.
Use of devices is restricted during instructional hours at all levels, but they can be used for instruction at the teacher’s discretion.
Personal digital devices — including cellphones, tablets, smart watches, eletronic games or toys — are to be stored out of sight and on silent or airplane mode.
Secondary school students can use their devices outside of class as long as it does not result in a privacy breach, bullying or harassment, or illegal activity.
• The Saanich school district has also updated its code of conduct, and summarizes the expections as little or no use of personal digital devices in elementary schools and limited use for educational purposes in middle school and secondary school. Secondary school students can use their devices during scheduled breaks.
• The Sooke school district’s policy says teachers at all levels can allow the use of personal mobile devices for instructional purposes, digital literacy, health or medical needs, or as assistive technology.
During the school day, personal digital devices — including earbuds and headphones — must remain stored during the day. Secondary school students can use their devices at lunch and between classes.
— With a file from the Times Colonist
