Call to ban smartphones in schools to prevent cyberbullying and improve students’ focus on learning
AUSTRALIA’S Federal Education Minister has called for smartphones to be banned in classrooms.
Senator Simon Birmingham made the call this week as figures show half of children were victim to cyberbullies in the past year.
Cyberbullying is when children are bullied on technology devices such as phones and social media sites and includes being left out of groups or conversations, being called names or having mean things said about them, having lies or rumours spread about them, receiving repeated unwanted messages, being sent inappropriate content, and receiving violent threats.
Mr Birmingham believes restricting* use of phones at schools can reduce cyberbullying and improve learning levels.
“There’s almost no reason students shouldn’t have their phones switched off and in their lockers while they’re at school,” Mr Birmingham said.
“Although learning to work with technology is essential, phones can be a distraction from lessons and a platform for bullying unless schools have the right policies in place.”
University of Melbourne Associate Professor Kay Margetts said smartphones were diluting* students’ focus in the classroom and valuable social skills.
“I think it is quite reasonable that they could be banned. There is so much research now about the negative* impacts of social media on young people’s development that I think we need to put a stop to it,” she said.
Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg, who sits on the federal government’s internet safety working group, said smartphones must be banned in primary schools.
Young children needing phones for “security purposes’’ should only be given “dumb phones’’ without internet access, he said.
“Cyber cop’’ Susan McLean demanded a ban on phones in schools, warning they risked being sued by the parents of cyber bullying victims over messages sent in school hours.
Ms McLean — who advises the federal government as a member of its Cyber Safety Working Group — said she was being flooded with requests from schools, parents and legal firms about the legality* of phones in schools.
Kevin Donnelly, a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University wrote in The Daily Telegraph this week it was vital that students’ full attention was on learning when in school.
“Successful classrooms are those where teachers are in control and where there no distractions as students don’t have the luxury* of surfing the net, figuring out what to do on the weekend or updating their social networking sites,” he wrote.
“Research investigating how students best learn, especially those in primary school, proves that the most effective way to learn is to hardwire the computer sitting on your shoulders — otherwise known as the brain.
“Instead of relying on calculators and computers, students need to memorise times tables, do mental arithmetic, recite poems and rhymes, and learn facts and figures until they can be recalled automatically.”
Call to ban smartphones in schools to prevent cyberbullying and improve students’ focus on learning
Natasha Bita, Herald Sun
February 6, 2018 7:15pm
Loading ...