The Catalan School Council (CEC) has conveyed to councilor Anna Simó the need to regulate mobile phones in schools without ruling out banning them in all centres. The majority opinion is in favor of the Department of Education regulating its use in all educational centers in a uniform and clear manner, and if it is restricted by stages, that it be done by courses and not by chronological ages.
But the document that was given to the minister yesterday, a summary, classified by points, which is the result of hundreds of debates throughout Catalonia, is not clear with regard to the ban. It talks about possible restrictions in stages, time, spaces and ages, in such an ambiguous way that the word prohibition, which is deduced from many statements, does not appear in the document except for a group of parents who want total limitation before the 16 years
“The ban is not a general consensus,” said the president of the council, Jesús Viñas, after the meeting. Viñas indicated that the document “gives hints” about the limitation by age or stages with a greater restriction in primary than in secondary, which is more restrictive, or in post-compulsory ones.
In one of the points, the document that was delivered considers that the majority opinion is that “the centers adapt the general framework to their reality”, an opinion not shared by the teachers “who believe that the department should establish it with a lot of concreteness”.
This is precisely the point at which the department focuses, and considers it the conclusion of the report. Yesterday in a statement he informed that he will define a “regulatory framework” and that in January “framework instructions and criteria will be drawn up”. During the following months, “schools will be able to promote this debate with families and regulate the use of mobile phones, in accordance with the framework established by the department, which will respect the criteria set by the School Board”.
This means that there will not be a general ban, and that the centers will adapt the framework to their convenience. It also means that the department’s order, in the form of an instruction, will not need to go back to the School Board to issue an opinion. Some members of the council hoped that it would be like this in order to reach a common reflection that has now not taken place, since they have only been able to summarize the hundreds of folios written in the debates.
The heading of the document states that most sectors of the educational community are in favor of a general framework for regulating the use of mobile phones. “Teachers propose that this framework be unique and clear for all schools”, and “part of the families” also think so, including those who want the ban before the age of 16. On the other hand, the group of students would rather talk about regulation, protocol.
In any case, the agreed regulation, whatever it is, must affect everyone: students, teachers, administration and services staff, educational care, monitors and families. “Everyone must act in a manner consistent with the center’s regulations regarding the use of mobile phones, in all spaces and time slots”, it says. In the same way, it must be made easier for families to be consistent in their use at home.
However, the regulation must be carried out taking into account and integrating the proposals of the Department of Health and other social administrations. In addition, considering the risks to mental health, mobile phone use is proposed to be more restricted in ESO than in post-compulsory education, because at that age “it costs more to comply with the rules”.
With regard to prohibiting its use throughout the center or only in certain places or time slots during the day, the document states that the regulation must define this “clearly”, both in school spaces and in activities educational non-teaching.
It also mentions the need for schools to be “safe environments” and to comprehensively protect the digital rights of the entire educational community regarding images and data.
In addition, the schools emphasize that one aspect that the regulation must offer is legal certainty, specifically with regard to data protection and the responsibility of devices in case of custody. If cell phones are banned, apps should be incorporated into laptops.
In terms of learning, it is considered necessary to guarantee an education in digital culture that includes the proper use of mobile phones to achieve the digital skills established in the curricula. Its use for educational purposes can be specified in the center’s educational project and graded by educational stages.
