The State School Council has just agreed “unanimously” to recommend a ban on the use of mobile phones in all schools in Spain. The proposal has been ratified by the working group of 21 experts created with the objective of analyzing this measure and considering vetoing these devices in the Infant and Primary classrooms (from zero to 12 years), as well as during recess and in the dining rooms. schoolchildren, and limit its use during ESO (from 12 to 16 years).
The declaration on which they have voted and for which they have given the green light indicates that “in Primary, students do not need to bring cell phones to the educational center” and “in ESO they must be kept turned off from the entrance to the educational center until the exit from it”, except in cases where it is used for educational purposes and with the supervision of the teacher. The document also establishes exceptions such as “those cases in which it is authorized for very specific individual reasons related to health or other duly justified personal or family circumstances.”
In the recommendation, which will be transferred by the minister to the autonomous communities next week, it warns of “the problems derived from the inappropriate use of mobile devices” due to “the distractions and behaviors against coexistence that their use or presence causes” , although it is also recognized that they have “educational advantages”, both for the “development of digital competence, as well as for methodological innovation and the improvement of school performance.”
UNESCO’s latest GEM 2023 report indicates that the personal use of mobile phones in the academic field, particularly to record videos or post messages on social networks in order to harass colleagues, has motivated one in four countries to implement laws or decrees that prohibit its use in classrooms to try to stop bullying. This report highlights the negative influence of these devices on school performance.
Look for traditional leisure alternatives in schools and institutes
“We are aware that we live in a digital society and that we must prepare students to live in that society and develop fully with digital media. But these means carry a series of dangers and we must prepare so that students are trained in the responsible use of mobile devices,” stressed the president of the Permanent Commission of the State School Council, Encarna Cuenca, after meeting with the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría, to discuss this and other issues such as the educational reinforcement plan for reading comprehension and Mathematics.
The recommendation to prohibit these devices has been extended beyond the classrooms, because their use will not be allowed during recess or in school cafeterias, and therefore the School Council has proposed another series of measures so that schools and institutes “seek leisure alternatives”, which “is something that is already being done in educational centers. There are proposals to recover traditional games, games that have to do with promoting coexistence, that the children recover what we had of playing together and inventing games,” Cuenca commented.
“There are proposals to recover traditional games, that have to do with promoting coexistence, that the children recover what we had of playing together and inventing games”
For now, there are seven autonomous communities that have already regulated in some way the use of mobile phones in classrooms. Castilla y León was the first to do so, through a decree in 2007 that was specified last year. Galicia and Madrid also established regulations to limit these devices in educational centers. The last to do so have been Andalusia (in December); and Murcia and Aragón that implemented it in this month of January.
