Back to school | Phones out!

As the bell rings for thousands of students to return to school, Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge says he has no plans to limit cell phone use in schools , as has been done in Ontario and France. This does not prevent some secondary schools from imposing clear rules on their students.

Marie-Eve Morasse
The Press

“We are like the irreducible Gauls. »

Forget Julius Caesar and the Romans: the invader referred to by the principal of Grande-Rivière high school is the cell phone.

Students who “bump into each other” in the hallways for lack of looking straight ahead, this Gatineau school no longer wanted.

For five years now, it has been part of school regulations that the use of personal electronic devices must be done outside the walls of the establishment, or in dedicated premises at lunchtime. Young people can have a phone with them, but they must not use it.

“It has a good side, it gets them out for some fresh air,” laughs the director.

Prohibiting cell phones in class across the province is not, however, an avenue that the Minister of Education wishes to take.

In interview with The PressJean-François Roberge recognizes that if cell phones can be “useful tools”, they are also, sometimes, a “distraction”.

“It’s up to school teams and teachers to decide how they are able to mark out cell phone use, to regulate it, to use it correctly,” says Mr. Roberge.

Since 2018, in France, cell phones have been banned in schools and colleges, in classrooms and outside (especially during recess). It’s written into the law: a student’s phone can be confiscated.

“A student cannot therefore use his telephone to replace his calculator or to find out the time,” reads the French government website. Only exceptions: use is permitted for educational purposes or for students with disabilities.

Ontario also banned phones in elementary and secondary schools in 2019. The province is, however, a little less restrictive: students can use their phones during breaks.

Beneficial effect on social life

In Sorel-Tracy, the Fernand-Lefebvre secondary school has also prohibited its 1,200 students from using cell phones within its walls. We were inspired by certain private schools, which have adopted a similar policy.

“We know that they have the telephone on them, but if they want to use it, it is in rare exceptions: a security issue, someone in the family who is sick”, illustrates Laurence Cournoyer, spokesperson for the Sorel-Tracy school service centre.

As in Gatineau, young people have to leave school to text, even in winter. “If students film other students, or members of staff, we will intervene, even outside,” continues Ms.^me Cournoyer.

The effect of this regulation introduced a few years ago has been clear, says the spokesperson: students are socializing more among themselves and bullying has decreased on social networks, although it remains impossible to control what young people do once they leave school.

Parents are far from opposed to this way of doing things. The students, themselves, “are not happy”, but respect the rules, like any other.

Same story in Gatineau. “Are the students all okay with that? No. Do they understand the reasons why it is prohibited? Yes,” says Serge Guitard, principal of the Grande-Rivière school.

As for the parents, they approve. “I think they’re satisfied because their child isn’t on their cell phone all day,” says Mr. Guitard.

In Gatineau as in Sorel-Tracy, students are exposed to sanctions if they do not respect the regulations relating to the use of the telephone.

Indispensable for some

Director General of the Center Cyber-aide, Cathy Tétreault regrets that the strategy of the Ministry of Health and Social Services on “the use of screens and the health of young people”, unveiled last spring, is not tied to concrete actions. in schools.

“Is there an opening from Minister Roberge? He really likes technologies, that’s correct. When we open access by providing tablets [aux élèves], do we care about their overall health? Do we prevent cyberaddiction? she asks.

At the Rivière-du-Nord school service center (CSSRN), in the Laurentians, it is also said that it is the responsibility of each school, or even each teacher, to make its own policy concerning the use of cell phones. in class.

For some teachers, banning the telephone in class, “it’s essential”. “Our young people are super connected,” observes Nadyne Brochu, spokesperson for the CSSRN.

For other teachers, it’s an added problem.

“We have pockets behind the classroom doors to put the phones, but often the young people do not use them. There should be one rule for all students, but our school does not seem to be there, ”observes a secondary school teacher.

“As soon as you ask them to put their phone away, it’s like asking them to put their lives on hold,” said another.

The laissez-faire, easy option?

In this context, how to ban the telephone and allow other technological tools in the classroom?

“The cell phone is an extension of young people’s lives, it’s fun. There is a fun side that they don’t have with the tablet, which is used to follow a course,” says Cathy Tétreault, before adding that students often find a way to install the applications they want on any device provided by the school.

The Grande-Rivière school has not closed the door to technology in the classroom, but its director believes that other schools have “bought peace” by allowing the use of cell phones without tags.

Each year, the rules of the secondary school are reviewed, together with the student council, the staff and the parents.

“Until now, everything tells us that we should continue in this direction,” concludes Mr. Guitard.