Schools’ no-phones policy reaping benefits
Touch rugby games, more socialising, the noise from the playground is louder and the school’s academic achievements are on the up and up.
Students not using their phones at school is having a positive impact at Taranaki institutions already banning phones ahead of a new law that will make it something they are legally required to do.
The Government’s Phones Away For The Day regulations come into force in state schools and kura in term two. Schools must ensure students do not use or access a phone while they are attending school, including during lunchtime and breaks.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the policy before the election last year.
He says the ban was part of a plan to eliminate distractions and lift achievement. The press release cited studies that were themselves cited in the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, which showed banning mobile phones improved academic performance, especially for lowperforming students.
Some Taranaki high schools are ahead of the game and say they are reaping the benefits from banning mobile phone use.
From the beginning of last year, Waitara High School students in years 9 to 12 got a magnetic pouch to put their phones in when they arrived at school.
The pouches were then locked. The kids can unlock their phones at stations set up around the school at the end of the day.
Principal Daryl Warburton says the cost of the technology was commercially sensitive, but for a school their size it was usually around $10,000.
The pouches have been a big success, he says. Not having phones had got rid of a significant distraction in class and last year the academic results in Years 9 to 12 were up 15 to 20% across all levels.
“The change is the most important thing I’ve done in 20-plus years of teaching – when looking at direct outcomes.
The biggest thing for us is the academic outcomes. All the social stuff has been great as well.”
Students are talking to each other, playing bullrush, the playground equipment is well used, and the playground is noisy again, he says. “It’s been a great social experiment.“
And the classes were about 5 to 6 weeks ahead of the curriculum, because the students were not getting distracted.
“Only Year 13s were allowed to keep phones, because we treat them like adults. Their results last year were no different.
Now the law is coming in they will have to give up their phones as well.
“My staff are not upset about that. The Year 13s are.”
Year 12 student Baiden March, 16, says not having his phone did make it easier to do his school work. “You’re a lot more focused.”
If caught with a phone students get one chance. If they are caught after that they could get stood down, he says.
Te Maioha Nohotima, 15, who is in Year 11 says without phones students are more active and sociable.
If there was an emergency or if something happened the office called the student’s emergency contact, she says.
At Stratford High School they have a dedicated student runner to deliver messages that need to get to students.
When the school had a hui with parents last year about removing phones that was the one concern they had, principal Cam Stone says.
“So a student acts as a runner for the day so messages can get to students really quickly if parents get in touch.”
Stratford High School introduced the magnetic pouch system at the beginning of this year.
“It’s a huge cultural shift, not just in the classroom but at break time. We’re seeing games of touch rugby again, kids having fun, it’s great. They’re talking. There’s a lot of noise out there.
“It’s been an overwhelming success for us.”
The kids don’t like it, but the parents are really supportive, he says.
“It’s been a massive shift. We’ve provided them with a pouch to take away the temptation. We’re not naive to the fact some students may not be using the pouch, but it makes it a very easy conversation when they have their phone out.”
And what to do if students break the rules is one of the things the Ministry of Education website says school boards should consult with the school community about, along with how to store the phones and manage exemptions.
New Plymouth Girls’ High School has just completed its consultation with students staff and parents, principal Jacqui Brown says.
“Boards are required to consult when there are significant changes and we thought the rules change was significant.”
The results of the consultation, including deciding what to do if a student used a phone, went to the board on Monday night, she says.
“We wanted to do a thorough consultation. People didn’t realise the no phones on lunch and breaks was the Government, not a school decision.”
The school already had a rule that phones were to be kept in bags during class.
“We’re going to start after Easter to have a transition period for students to get used to it.”
But it’s not a huge difference, she says. The law change won’t be much different for Opunake High School either.
In the last couple of years the school implemented a Phones Off, Brains On policy, says principal Andrea Hooper Carr.
Phones are allowed to come to school, but they’re not allowed to use them in class unless linked to learning, such as for photography. “It’s nothing new for us.
The Government promoting it is great because it gives you another layer of support, but [it’s] nothing new to our school.”
There seems to be lots of sports going on at lunchtimes and lots of interacting and fewer people with their head down staring at a screen, she says.
“For us to make a carpet ban is very difficult to enforce. I’m not trying to be a dictator. It needs to be self-managed. They have phones but are not using them.”
The policy was making a positive impact, she says.