When Eileen O’Donnell, principal of St Raphaela’s Secondary School in Stillorgan, decided to ban mobile phones, her motivation wasn’t falling grades or classroom distractions – it was the eerie quiet at breaktimes.
“After Covid, especially, there was less interaction and socialising among students,” says O’Donnell. “Some didn’t know how to sit around and have a laugh with their friends, and the phone was a crutch. Or you’d see little huddles of students gathered around their phones.”
These days, students’ phones are locked away in secure pouches in the morning and can only be accessed when the school day ends. Breaktimes have been much noisier since.
“We worked with the student council to ensure their voices were heard ... the senior students, in particular, felt a sense of relief in not having them. There is a huge temptation to use them if they are there and to go down rabbit holes.”
Banning smartphones in schools has become an increasingly popular move for principals looking to improve children’s education, concentration and wellbeing.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee last week directed that post-primary schools must implement a policy to restrict mobile phone use during the school day.
“Having engaged with many different school communities across the country, I am confident that this policy will support student wellbeing, engagement and their interaction with their peers, while also recognising the experience and expertise of school communities and the need for consultation,” she said.
Yet, the latest international research suggests that smartphone bans have little or no impact on education, cyberbullying and wellbeing among students.
A Dublin City University (DCU) report published today concludes that any studies that suggest a ban are often found to “over rely on correlations and/or overstate small percentages and/or causality to justify their conclusions”.
The findings of some studies are cited selectively. For example, it says a Unesco report – Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 – has been referenced by previous minster for education Norma Foley as a basis for a ban on smartphones in schools.
While the Unesco report did highlight the risk of distraction and lower student engagement, it did not recommend a blanket ban. It emphasised the “balance between managing risks associated with technology and preparing students for a digital future”.
Despite this, many schools that have introduced bans feel they have significantly helped change the school atmosphere for the better.
“You can’t deny that it is better, socially, for students,” says one principal, who asked not to be named. “They still have their phones, before and after school, so I’m not surprised that there are still issues with wellbeing and cyberbullying. School bans are not a silver bullet, but they’re a start.”
The DCU report – which includes sampling the views of pupils in Irish schools – also notes that students’ voices have not been included in decision-making on smartphone restrictions or bans within schools, but they want to have a say in decisions on these aspects of their school lives.
“There are more pressing issues for students than smartphone use in schools that students were concerned about, such as school facilities and health concerns,” the study noted.
It is a sentiment with which Kevin Shortall, principal of St Aidan’s Community School in Tallaght, Dublin, agrees. He says the school has deliberately had a “laissez-faire” approach until now.
“We have no digital resources or one-to-one devices here, so phones have been useful for students, especially those students whose first language isn’t English,” he said.
“Teachers can say, ‘take out your phones and look at Google Classroom’ ... In schools that have one-to-one devices, it’s the parents that buy them. That’s not possible for all school communities.”
Any issues with phones or social media – such as cyberbullying or pupils being excluded from groups – happens outside of school time. The key, says Shortall, is educating students to better navigate the digital world.
“Yes, some kids take them out too many times, but banning them is like saying we’ll ban walls, just because someone has written graffiti on them. I don’t believe they are the big worry in schools that people think they are. There’s a wider issue – we’re less mindful and we’re all addicted to them – but that’s true of society generally.“
