A Policy Designed to Refocus Learning
At the start of last school year a policy was introduced by the Saskatchewan government, restricting cell phone use in K-12 classrooms. Mick Panko, a principal with Regina Public Schools, in a text exchange, reflects on the policies intended purpose, and its positive impact on school culture. The policy was framed as a balanced and effective solution to managing device use in schools while still providing for exceptions.
The provincial PED policy, as it is applied at Sheldon Williams Collegiate, offers a clear and structured approach to minimizing classroom disruptions while respecting student needs. The progressive discipline model ensures fairness and accountability, with thoughtful provisions for medical and instructional exceptions. Overall, the policy promotes a focused learning environment and encourages responsible device use through constant enforcement and family engagement.
From this perspective, the policy not only reduces classroom disruptions but also supports a learning environment where students can stay focused and engage more meaningfully with their work. Yet while the policy’s benefits for maintaining focus and minimizing disruptions are clear, it also prompts deeper questions about what students may lose when opportunities to guide their digital decision making are removed.
Preparing Students- and Teachers – for a Digital Future
In reflecting back on this move I thought initially of how cell phones impacted my classroom prior to the implemented policy. As I teach grade 5, I find this is a cusp year where students were starting to acquire cell phones. David Chorney, an Education researcher at the University of Alberta, found 54 per cent of grade 5 students have cell phones with many anticipating acquiring a cell phone within the next year. In this survey Chorney surveyed their top reasons for having a cell phone.
And while the ostensible reason for having a cell phone was keeping in contact with their parents, using the phone to take and make calls was not among the top reasons students gave for having a cell phone, which centred on playing games and participating in social media.
Students in grade 5 are forming their identities in relation to their peers and what is socially acceptable. As Grade 5 is a pivotal year, I wonder if restricting use is teaching digital responsibility? A question that has been raised is, are we banning cell phones because we are not willing to equip teachers? Professor Antero Garcia in the podcast below says the reason we are moving towards banning cell phones is because we have not thought about preparing the teaching profession around cell phones and not engaging in these conversations is short-sighted.
Students I found in the classroom who had cell phones often used them to share videos or simple games they had made in coding classes. I could see the value in having cell phones for students to capture their learning and post to their online portfolios. I recall seeing in the classes ahead of mine students create and present multi-media presentations, access QR codes for linked resources, and participate in gamified real-time quizzes, surveys, and discussions. Curtis Norman, a former junior high teacher at our school, and now administrator spoke to the usage of cell phones in schools in an interview from 2017 about the importance of developing responsible digital citizens. In a text exchange Jesse Bradley, Vice Principal at Harbour Landing School, shared, “It has limited, the flexibility of teachers to be able to access the technology. From my perspective, I’d prefer to teach students how to use their devices appropriately rather than banning their use.” Without opportunities to test and practice media literacy and responsible usage in a guided environment, students may miss the opportunity to develop critical thinking and responsible habits needed to navigate an increasingly digital world.
Investing in Our Youth
Despite being a tool for digital literacy I would be remiss to not also acknowledge that many students struggle with appropriate usage. In a WHO study surveying 280, 000 youth ages 11, 13, and 15 from 44 countries, including Canada, an increase was found in problematic social media use. Implications included lower mental and social well being and increases in substance abuse. I often saw that students who were at risk may also have been those who struggled with appropriate use within the classroom. The studies recommendations were not to ban use, but to help young people develop digital literacy skills, promote healthy online behaviour, and provide support to those at risk.
Children and young people are an essential target group for health promotion because health behaviour learned early creates the basis for behaviour that supports well-being as an adult. The benefits of developing social media and digital gaming habits that are healthy, safe and responsible and that support one’s own and others’ well-being should therefore be emphasized to young people.
Calls to action included investing in education and mental health.
Where to Next, Looking Ahead to a Future Shaped by AI
While I feel that it is important to develop digital literacy in our youth within the classrooms, as a parent, I can also see when my daughter, who is 9, has had too much screen time. Her ability to make positive choices decreases. As a parent I think it is important to encourage play, being creative, reading a book, and dialoguing. As a teacher, I see students playing more and socializing with their peers on recess breaks.
In thinking about this topic, I came across a session AI and The Future of Education at the conference SXSW EDU. Sinead Bovell advocates for redesigning education for AI. Surprisingly Sinead Bovell also advocates for cell phone bans in schools. Technology for technology sake is not the answer.
Critical thinking is absolutely vital in the age of advanced technologies. Kids need to read more, read for the sake of reading, and read in a way that they come back to school or with their parents and discuss those ideas and have those ideas challenged. Kids need to play more in the age of advanced technologies. The future Steve Jobs are not going to come from the corporate cubicle. They are going to come from people who have imagination, that can play freely, experiment and work collaboratively.
I don’t have all the answers. Somedays I think the key is guiding responsible cellphone use, and promoting healthy online behaviour, but voices like Sinead Bovell remind me that fostering creativity, play, and curiosity might matter just as much. Perhaps preparing students for a digital future isn’t the devices at all, but nurturing the imagination and critical thinking they’ll need to shape whatever comes next.
