The Positive Impact of Banning Smartphones in Schools, Say Channel Island Educators

Teachers in the Channel Islands call for a complete prohibition of smartphones in schools as they highlight their tangible positive impacts on learners’ learning progress and emotional stability. In recent years, most secondary schools in Guernsey and Jersey have established policies concerning banning or limiting smartphone usage during classes. However, politicians have yet to act to prohibit using gadgets legally, which, as mentioned above, they have only limited by offering guidelines to control the use of smartphones. 

 Flynn, Jersey’s Children’s Commissioner, stands for the control of the usage of smartphones in class while recognising that these devices can contribute a lot. Many educators share the same opinion, and educational institutions are worried about the effects of smartphones on students. 

 In the previous year, UNESCO proposed excluding smartphones from schools as their use leads to performance deterioration. In February 2014, the UK communications regulator Ofcom said that nine out of ten children in the UK said they had their own mobile phone before age eleven. Ofcom wants social media businesses and parents to step up on child safeguarding when accessing content on the internet. 

 Ms. Daniele Harford-Fox, principal of a school known as Guernsey’s Ladies College, supports a total smartphone ban for students under sixteen. ”And social media firms are designing the settings that entice people to use their phones or social media continuously, and the consequences are drastic to youth mental health and wellbeing,” she said. 

According to Harford-Fox, extended smartphone usage interferes with children’s learning process. Allowing them to use smartphones only outside school hours can shield them from certain aspects of the online world that are inimical to learning. She went on to indicate that since putting these controls in place, the college has become much more tranquil, and thus, students get to interact and even play more. 

 Many parents give their children phones to call and supervise them. But Harford-Fox noted that a student can always talk to the parent through the school office if needed, making necessary and safe communication accessible for the students without owning a Personal mobile device. 

 Liz Coffey, executive principal of the Secondary School Partnership in Guernsey, said that the four State-Funded high schools on the island also follow similar policies. She said that most of the principals agree that the policies mentioned work, although they are revised occasionally to determine the possibility of enhancement. 

 Rob Ward, Jersey’s Deputy Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, also stressed people’s support of school policies. Regarding the use of smartphones outside school, he said that parents should closely monitor and think about their children’s use of gadgets and that good work between parents, children, and schools ought to ensure that everyone uses smartphones Safely. 

 However, only some officials in this aspect advocate for a complete ban. According to Dr Carmel Corrigan, Jersey’s Children’s Commissioner, the days of banning the technologies associated with smartphones are over. Of course, she agreed with the “a lot of good things” innovative technology has created, such as safety, education and social interactions.

. She added that with such a mentality, an entire generation of children do not know anything different. Corrigan also supports a middle ground, safeguarding children from the ills of the online world while simultaneously providing them with the benefits of innovative technology. 

 Whether students should be allowed to use smartphones in schools has been a puzzle, and organisations have argued with a lot of force. While some focus on the risk factors inherent in using technology and the importance of student learning and wellbeing outcomes, others stress the benefits of using technology and the necessity of its safe incorporation into the learners’ experience. Schools and other policymakers have to deal with this matter, and the critical consideration should be the delivery of effective learning and positive student attitudes.