As the nationwide ban on students using phones at school comes into effect, principals in Tauranga and Rotorua share their views on the policy and what’s worked for their students. Sonya Bateson reports.

A principal has accused the Government of “overstepping” and eroding school boards’ power based on “dubious whims” with its student phone ban.

But the education minister says evidence shows banning phones is in the best interest of students and feedback from parents, teachers and principals has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

National’s ban on students using their phones in school, including during break times, came into effect on Monday.

Iva Ropati, tumuaki (principal) of Pāpāmoa College, says his school decided last year to ban phones during class time after analysing evidence-based data.

However, the former Warriors rugby league player was critical of the Government “overstepping” and unnecessarily interfering in board of trustee governance by imposing blanket bans across all schools.

He said the ban was “almost an unmanageable situation” for schools to police, particularly at intervals and break times with unco-operative students.

“Sadly, most of our teaching staff will be at the pointy end of that monitoring, confiscations and the like. That is unnecessary conflict that our staff are being put in, and it’s unfortunate.”

He said he never believed a government-imposed ban was needed.

“I think this was a significant step into the unwanted and unnecessary erosion of boards making their own decisions and, in my view, another step into central government control.”

Ropati said the college anticipated higher levels of engagement and, therefore, achievement as a result of its ban and would be collecting data to monitor its effectiveness.

“The data did, in fact, show engagement was compromised by the accessibility of phones. Teachers and students reported high levels of distraction whilst parents reported often that their children were increasingly online and that it worried them especially if their observations at home reflected what they might be doing at school.

“But we certainly didn’t need the strong arm of central government to again overstep their mark based on dubious whims and guesswork that policymakers create who know very little of our community or our challenges.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford said she had been given feedback from parents, teachers and principals that banning phone use had been “overwhelmingly positive”, and said the Education Review Office (ERO) agreed with the ban.

Stanford said the ERO’s position was that phones and other “distractions” had caused behaviour in New Zealand classrooms to deteriorate during the past two years.

Education minister Erica Stanford. Photo / Alex Burton.

She said they had heard feedback that as a result of phone bans, school library usage was up, students were active during breaks and cyberbullying was down.

“Schools have reported that the noise from children playing is now heard throughout the playground, whereas before children were on their phones.”

Stanford said Kiwi children ranked fifth in the world for being distracted by digital devices in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment results.

Removing phones from the classroom would ensure young people “receive the quality education they deserve that lets them live the life that they want,” she said.

“The Government chose to ban cellphone use nationally, as we want to ensure every school is delivering the same high-quality distraction-free education.”

Rotorua Girls’ High School principal Sarah Davis said the school had started enforcing stricter phone usage rules two or three years ago.

The school had rules around students keeping their phones in their bags or in boxes, but the most effective thing they had done to reduce distractions was to turn off the student WiFi.

Rotorua Girls' High School principal Sarah Davis. Photo / Andrew Warner.

“That’s made more of a difference than the phones being away. What we have noticed is that there are certainly more conversations happening around the grounds at interval and lunchtime.”

Davis said there were circumstances in which teachers would permit (usually senior) students to use their phones but only for learning purposes relevant to the class work, such as taking photos for art or in outdoors-based classes.

Russell Gordon, principal of Ōtūmoetai College in Tauranga, said the school has had a student phone policy for six years. It began as a “tool, not a toy” policy in classrooms, which meant they could be used for learning only. But last year the school consulted with its community and introduced a stricter breaktimes-only rule.

Gordon said students were, on the whole, respectful of this.

Ōtūmoetai College principal Russell Gordon.

With the government-mandated ban starting, Gordon said he expected more face-to-face communication among students, fostering greater engagement and leading to a more collaborative learning environment.

For students who are on the fringe of, or isolated from, social networks, Gordon said it was the school’s duty to offer more opportunities to naturally promote connectivity within the school, such as encouraging involvement in clubs or sporting activities, through “give it a go” lunchtime events or house competitions.

Aquinas College principal Matt Dalton said the college implemented a phone-free environment for students in Years 7 to 10 last year, which extended to break times as well.

“This decision proved to be highly beneficial. We observed considerable improvements in student social engagement and physical activity during break times, meaning more positive well-being outcomes for our students.”

-Bay of Plenty Times.