The Ministry of Education announced last year before the 2024/2025 school year began that cell phones would no longer be allowed during class in all schools in the province. There are certain exemptions granted such as exemptions indicating grades 9-12 may use phones for a specific reason to support their learning as instructed by the teacher, but aside from this cell phones are banned from the classroom.

There are benefits and drawbacks to this move from the perspective of teachers, administrators, students, and parents. I am not a teacher myself, but both of my parents are. They are both in agreement with the cell phone ban since it minimizes classroom distractions and brings the focus back to learning, and already had practices in place in their classrooms to ensure phones were put away or being used for educational purposes only instead of distractions. With it being a province-wide policy, I imagine many teachers and administrators are happy with how it provides a consistent and clear standard that all classrooms are to follow, instead of individual policing of cell phones which can lead to discrepancies between teachers with different rules regarding cell phone use. One major drawback was the timing of the policy. It came out right before the school year, which likely may not have provided enough time for teachers and administrators to develop well thought-out processes for how to handle the new cell phone restrictions.

For students it could be beneficial by reducing the negative effects of screen time on students’ mental health, minimizing classroom interruptions, and potentially improving learning outcomes. Parents may also see benefits in this policy if it leads to better learning outcomes for their children and if it reduces cell phone misuse or cyber bullying with its decreased usage during school hours. Some drawbacks may be that students, specifically in older grades, that benefit from using their phone to aid their learning may not be able to use these strategies, and may also feel a loss of autonomy as a result of this. When I was a student, I remember enjoying listening to music from my iPhone through headphones during math while working on equations to minimize noise and focus better. A student in this blog post indicated similar feelings with enjoying using her phone while working in the classroom. Parents may also worry about adapting to not being able to be able to contact their student as frequently throughout the day and may also worry about if this policy will be applied consistently or if it may create tension if some classrooms are enforcing it differently than others.

My Take as a Nursing Faculty Member

I have been teaching in the registered nursing program for four years and I have never found any issues with inappropriate cell phone use in classes, labs, or clinical. I find cell phones to be a very important learning tool for students with UR Courses, many online textbooks, and apps like Nursing Central, which we use extensively in clinical. As long as phones are adding to learning and students are on task, I have no concerns with them being used in the classroom.

What About Other Provinces?

Many other provinces have also implemented similar cell phone bans. For example, Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba, implemented a similar ban to reduce distractions in the classroom. At the end of last year many education ministries have reported generally positive feedback for the new cell phone restrictions, detailing how students were more engaged in learning.