Mobile-free zones in schools: ‘They suddenly start talking to each other’

A girl looks at her phone for the last time, which is a lot bigger than her hand. Then she puts the thing, with the screen still lit, deep in her school locker. Then the bell rings. It is half past eight in the morning, early December. The crowd of students at the lockers and coat racks at Leonardo College in Leiden slowly heads towards the first lesson. None of them have a cell phone in their hand; a strange image among this generation of teenagers. “We’re in 2.6!”, “Have you learned anything?”, “Where’s the rest?!”

A boy kicks his locker a few times to get it closed properly. “Don’t forget your earphones,” says deputy headmaster Mirre van der Heiden to a student who walks into the school wearing wireless earphones.

“Yes, I’m going to put that in my locker,” she says.

“Yes, but be sure to take them off when you walk through the school.”

On January 1, the ‘mobile phone ban’ will come into effect in primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands. What is popularly called a ban is actually an “urgent advice” from the Ministry of Education to schools to only allow mobile phones in the classroom if they are needed in class or for medical necessity. With this agreement, the government wants to ensure a learning environment “in which students can concentrate, be involved and teachers can teach effectively”, wrote outgoing minister Mariëlle Paul (Primary and Secondary Education, VVD) in a letter in November. Letter to Parliament.

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Schools can decide for themselves how to implement the agreement. At Leonardo College – a school for MAVO, HAVO and VWO – students practiced the rule ‘at home or in the locker’ for a week in early December. Telephones were also not allowed to be taken out during breaks and in-between hours. After the practice week, the school decided – after a survey among students – not to impose a total ban for the time being and only to ban the telephone from the classroom.

One day during that practice week, vice principal John Melchior is in the staff room placing chess pieces on chess boards. He’ll put it in the hall later. Because they are not allowed to use cell phones, some students play “old-fashioned” games during breaks and in-between hours, he says. “Mainly card games. And we notice that it is a lot busier in terms of sound during breaks and in-between hours. They suddenly start talking to each other.”

Van der Heiden is sitting at Melchior’s table and says that students were not happy about the ban. “’Back to the Middle Ages!’ it was shouted. So in that sense we were positively surprised that things went well on Monday.”

Phone pocket

NRC spoke to eight schools across the country about the upcoming cell phone ban, seven secondary schools and one primary school. Each school implements it differently. Some impose a total ban, others work with ‘mobile-free zones’. There are schools that opt ​​for a ‘phone pocket’ in every room and schools where students have to keep their mobile phone in the bag.

“When you enter the classroom, it goes in your bag, and the use of your cell phone is prohibited during class. Students are allowed to use their telephone outside of class,” says Hiske Kromdijk on the telephone. She is director of the Thorbecke School Community (three locations in Zwolle), which already introduced the new policy in September. “We have designated an area where students can chat without using their phones, but minimal use is made of it.”

Praktijkschool De Baanbreker in IJsselstein, Utrecht, has had a mobile phone policy for some time and will continue this next year. “We have an agreement that your phone must either be in your safe or in the red box in every classroom,” says Ellen Vos, department leader of the first and second years. “If we do see him in class, he has to go to a special ‘hotel’, a locker. They can pick it up there at the end of the day.” To refresh the students’ memories before January 1, posters have been made showing the rules.

rectorAnnemarie Kingma Cell phone policies can be used against you in recruitment

Many schools already had agreements about cell phones. They are now making this stricter, or they are reminding students and teachers about it again. “We had had such a telephone bag hanging in every classroom for years, but one teacher used it and the other did not,” says Kromdijk. “Especially for new teachers, it is important that everyone adheres to it, otherwise they will be told: ‘Yes, but it was allowed in the previous lesson.’”

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Concentration arc

Schools look askance at each other when determining their mobile phone policy, because it can easily become a decision for parents whether or not to send their child to a certain school, they think. “We have coordinated our policy with other schools in the area,” says Annemarie Kingma, headmaster of the Christian school community Bogerman, which has four branches in the Frisian towns of Sneek, Balk and Koudum, “because otherwise the mobile phone policy might hinder recruitment. you are being used.”

In general, teachers are enthusiastic about the cell phone ban, according to the schools NRC spoke to. “Children were always distracted a lot. And all kinds of things were photographed and filmed and posted on social media,” says Kingma. “But the most important thing is that attention span: we noticed after the summer, when we had already tightened up the approach somewhat, that it was already better.”

According to the schools, there were also teachers who were not keen on the new rules. Some said they had little trouble with the cell phones. Teachers were afraid of discussions with students. Or they thought that children should learn to deal with the distraction of mobile phones.

According to the schools, most parents are positive about the ban. Some would even like to see a total ban on schools that do not want to do so. A few had a different concern. At Leonardo College in Leiden, a parent sent a message asking: “What should my child do during lunch time?”

Students need to get used to the new policy or the prospect of the new policy, especially upperclassmen, who feel they are big enough to be responsible with their phones. In the schools’ experience, primary teachers adapt more quickly.

pupilMother I ask random teachers what time it is and I can’t check messages

Although? “Very stupid! Very bad! We hate it!” sounds during the break at Leonardo College in Leiden, when a group of bridge students are asked what they think of the ban on cell phones during the practice week. “I went to the wrong room so many times with the whole class,” says Umama (13). There is a bag of sandwiches in front of her. She talks fast. “You don’t see what time it is, so I ask random teachers what time it is. I can’t check messages. Mine streak of Snap is simply gone.” You get a Snapchat series when you and a friend send at least one message to each other every day.

Queen (12) agrees with Umama: “And yesterday, for example, I had a break and did almost nothing at school, except sit, for two hours. It was really boring.”

The school is installing more clocks so that students don’t need a phone to know what time it is. And because they can no longer view their schedule on their phone, Leonardo students now have to write it down on a note.

In the classroom

Lotte (15), Cato (14) and Danique (14) find this awkward. They have a break and are sitting in the auditorium doing homework. “And sometimes it is inconvenient if we have to do a certain assignment in class for which you need your phone,” says Lotte. “Then it’s like: oh, you don’t have a phone, so now we can’t do it.”

“And we did talk to each other anyway,” she continues. “But at first there were all those boys there playing games.” She points to the large stairs in the auditorium. “Maybe they will talk more now.”

Danique: “I actually don’t think it’s useful, because when you get home now, you have to check all your social media before you start studying.” The other girls giggle.

“By the way, I just have it in my bag,” says Danique.

“Me too,” Lotte giggles, “but we don’t dare take it.”

Cato: “Because then it will be taken away and you have to wait until a quarter past four.”

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The surnames of the students interviewed are known to the editors.

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