The prohibitions of smartphones in Dutch schools have had beneficial effects on the learning environment and relationships between students, a study ordered by the Dutch government shows, The Guardian reports.
School in Holland Photo Shutterstock
The national regulations, introduced in January 2024, recommend the prohibition of smartphones in the classrooms, and almost all schools complied. Almost 60% of high schools ask students to leave their phones at home or to store them in cabinets, while in one in five schools, the phones are collected at the beginning of the hour.
The researchers questioned 317 high school directors and 313 directors of secondary schools and organized discussion groups with teachers, didactic assistants, students and parents.
The students were easier to concentrate (75%), the social environment improved (59%), and the school results also had an improvement (28%), the study found
Dr. Alexander Krepel, a researcher at the Kohstamm Institute, said that positive results were especially seen in the interactions between students.
“Especially in the breaks between the lessons, the students are on the phones and are now forced to talk to each other … Maybe they quarrel a little more often, but schools, teachers and students are satisfied that the atmosphere is better.”
The initial prohibition concerns have been unfounded, according to Freyei Sixma, spokeswoman for the Vo-Raad secondary education council, which represents the schools and board of directors. “At first there were quite a lot of protests from schools, teachers, students, parents, questions about how everything will work ”, she said. “But now you see that, in fact, everyone is quite satisfied.”
Mariëlle Paul, the minister of primary and secondary education, said the recommendation to ban smartphones was useful to maintain the discipline in the classroom. “Teachers and school principals said that if a teacher wanted to ban the phone in the class always became a topic of dispute,” she explained. “Less experienced teachers would have difficulty applying this rule.”
The National Statistics Office in the Netherlands shows that 96% of children access the Internet almost daily, largely through phones. Last month, the interim government advised parents to prohibit social networks for children under 15 years old and limit the time in front of the screens, while a parliamentarian proposed a total prohibition of smartphones in schools.
