The ban on cell phone use in classes decreed by the Minister of Education a few months ago has not brought big changes, teachers say. Should we now ban it everywhere in schools?
Since last January, all public school students in the province have been prohibited from using cell phones, headphones and other mobile devices in classrooms, unless for educational use.
Five months later, many teachers consulted by The Press observe that in fact, this directive from Quebec has not changed much.
At Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry secondary school in Montreal, each teacher is free to decide how they manage cell phone use, explains director Geneviève Dandurand.
[La directive] didn’t change things, cell phones were already banned from use in class, for us and in many other environments too.
Geneviève Dandurand, director of Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry secondary school
Some teachers have put a box at the entrance to their class, others, pockets, where students must place their devices at the start of class. Teachers ask young people to leave their phones on the corner of their desks.
But the rule that applies to everyone is clear, says the principal: “You do not use your phone in class if you are not authorized to do so by the teacher. »
“Everything is not perfect, but we do the best we can to enforce this use in class,” adds the woman who runs a school where more than 200 teachers work.
Application of the rules
It is therefore up to teachers to ensure that the rules for using telephones are respected. Some noted that the ministerial directive helped ensure that the classroom phone ban was taken seriously.
But there are the rules, and there is the application of the rules, says Jean-Nicholas Robillard, a high school history and geography teacher on the South Shore of Montreal.
“We are always torn between learning [aux élèves] to use it or simply remove the phones,” says Mr. Robillard. He began at the start of the year to “trust” his students, but has since changed his strategy to be more strict.
The teacher welcomes all students at the start of class to ensure that they put their phones in a box.
“If a student enters the class and I don’t address him, he will try to sneak away with his phone,” explains Mr. Robillard. “It changes the management of the start of the course. I have to challenge them one by one,” continues the professor.
This is what several teachers testified to: they must ensure fairly close monitoring so that the directive – even from the minister – is applied.
“Many students have difficulty accepting [l’interdiction] and teachers are obliged to give reminders at the start of each period,” also observes Mohamed Idir, a secondary school teacher in Montreal.
“There are many who hide it, it’s difficult to see it. I’m often on the edge of the door, looking at their butts,” says a secondary school teacher with humor. Is it a cell phone or a wallet?
Because young people are “creative”, many teachers observe. Some even go so far as to bring two devices, leaving one with the teacher and keeping the other!
Executive Director and co-founder of the Center for Online Emotional Intelligence (CIEL), which gives workshops on the use of digital tools to students, Emmanuelle Parent reminds us that it is firstly a matter of preventing the telephone from harming to learning.
Often present in schools to give workshops, she notes a “plurality of practices from one school to another” regarding how to control telephone use.
“It is clear and clear that this puts teachers in a position of surveillance. We see teachers who will deal with it, continue teaching, and things are going well even if people have a phone, and others who have lost control a little more. It sure adds a burden, because who else enforces that if it’s not the teacher? “, said Mme Parent.
Ban it everywhere at school?
Last week, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, did not rule out possibly banning cell phones everywhere in schools. He was reacting to an outing from the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who called for telephones to be banned from all schools.
The director of CIEL believes that students, teachers and parents should first be consulted, and suggests a pilot project in certain schools before any decision.
We must “act for the well-being of young people, not in an alarmist, paternalistic and panicked way”, says Mme Parent, who adds that we must continue to focus on media education and instill critical thinking in students.
“Removing the phone does not solve all the problems,” says the woman who is also the author of a book on adolescents’ relationships with social networks.
The director of the Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry school believes that such a decision would merit “careful consideration” because of the numerous impacts that would result from it.
“There is a whole question of education on the use of cell phones. It’s a responsibility that doesn’t just fall to school, we can’t carry everything,” says Geneviève Dandurand, who adds that “the abuses” linked to the use of the telephone also happen outside the school. ‘school.
The Federation of Education Unions (FSE), which brings together 92,000 teachers, also believes that we must continue thinking about the use of digital tools at school.
“We cannot completely ignore digital technology in education to properly prepare young people for the world that awaits them. We must teach the ethical and responsible use of digital technology and encourage students to develop their critical thinking, particularly for the healthiest and most responsible use possible,” indicates its president, Josée Scalabrini.