Educators, students share mixed reviews of incoming Sask. cellphone use ban

Students, teachers and experts have mixed reviews on whether a cellphone use ban in K-12 schools is the right move but most wonder if it'sgovernment legislating somethingthat wasn't really anissue.

On Tuesday, the provincial government announced a cellphone use ban during classtime for all kindergarten to Grade 12 schoolclassrooms startingin the coming school year an attempt to stifle the contentionfor students' attention.

The majority of Canadian provinces have announced policies for the coming year for some or all grades.

In a video statement posted to Facebook, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill announced the policy, saying"we have heard loud and clear from parents, teachers and students that cellphones in classrooms are distracting our kids from learning and making teaching more difficult for our educators."

He says there are limited exceptions that will allow some student cellphone use in class, including medical issues.

Joanne Feeley a 29-year teacher living in Assiniboia, Sask., located about 135 kilometres southwest of Regina first heard about the change from watching Cockrill'sannouncement video.

Feeley says she is curious about why Cockrill is pursuing the ban over other more significant issues.

"I have just been wondering how he has not heard loud and clear from parents, teachers and students about the needs for human resources in our school buildings, throughout the last two years especially," she told the CBC on Thursday.

"It did feel like it could be a little tone deaf."

Feeley is not opposed to the ban and already had her own policies in her classroom to limit phone distractions but she findsthe issues of class composition and complexity that were echoed by teachers at picket lines during stalled contract negotiations between the province and the teachers' union seemed not to reach Cockrill's ears.

Experts weigh in on cellphone-use ban

When Marc Spooner, an education professor at the University of Regina, first heard about the announcement, he considered the policy a way to avoid making significant change while appearing to support teachers after "vilifying" them during negotiations.

Those talks ended in a stalemate and both parties agreeingto binding arbitration. The arbitration hearing is set for December 16 to 20 in Saskatoon.

Spooner doesn't believe there will be any noticeable changes to classrooms, what with many teachers and school boards already having cellphone-use policies in place.

Hedisagrees with politicians outside of schools making changes to what happensinside classrooms.

Kyle Robinson, an assistantprofessor of inclusive educationat the U of R says students need to learn how to live in the real world as well as study practical subjects.Taking away a common potential distraction now won't help them manage it in the future, he said.

He also finds cellphonesa useful tool for students, including for those who can find an app for text-to-speech, rather than the school having to buy extra tech or equipment.

"Do we just make it a rule that students with disabilities can now have their phone and no one else can? And it starts to turn into that slippery slope," he said.

Robinson expects there are other ways to limit distractions in the classroom and questioned the amount of consultation that went into the decision.

Cross Country Checkup1:51:47Should cell phones be banned in schools?

Some of Canada's biggest school boards have recently launched lawsuits against the companies behind Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. We all know how distracting our smartphones can be, but is banning them in classrooms the best solution? Is there a downside to switching off?

Sask. school boards don't see cellphone use ban as 'high priority'

Education Minister Cockrill could not put a number to the amount of people involved in consultations, but said he's spoken with teachers and parents around Saskatchewan who said cellphone use was a concern.

He said the province consulted the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) in the spring.

SSBA president Jaimie Smith-Windsor said it wasn't a robust consultation between the government and the association. She noted that school boards had mixed responses to theban but it wasn't considered a "high priority," when compared with issues like funding or developing programs like all-day, every day kindergarten.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation was not consulted about the change prior to its announcement, but is not in favour of it, according to its president Samantha Becotte.

Cockrill said he's aware that cellphone policies are already commonplace among some schools and classrooms but the new directive will provide a consistent approach, though teachers will work out enforcement measures with school administrators. He said the province will evaluate its effectiveness throughout the year and into the next school year.

"From the teachers that I heard from directly on this it's really hard to enforce a rule when another teacher down the hall or another teacher next door to you isn't enforcing the same rule," Cockrill said.

"Cellphones, they cause distraction; I think cellphones have had a massively negative impact on the mental health of our young people."

Eva Tsaprailis, a Grade 10 student in the village of Bjorkdale, Sask., said the ban is a mixed bag. It'sgood, she said,because some people use cellphones irresponsibly.And it's alsobadbecause shelistens to music to help her focus whileworking on assignments.

Lyndsay Charko, a Grade 11 student in Carrot River, Sask., expects she's in the minority of students who are in favour of the ban because she finds people use phones to cheat. On the other hand, she thinks they're valuable in an emergency or when people, like she and Tsaprailis, find solace in music.

Francis Aswit, a Grade 12 student at Riffel High School, said he disagrees with the cellphone ban, but expects it will be helpful for some and ineffective for others.

Aswit said some students are likely to hand teachers a second so-called dummy phone and continue to secretly use their primary devicein class.