school management
The real issue is the dearth of evidence to drive decision making about students ’ use of mobile phones at school .
Black mirror vs blackboard
Researchers at odds over mobile phone bans in schools .
By Dallas Bastian
Mobile phone bans in public schools have been rolled out across several states in the last two years – but what does the evidence say about the move ?
In a 2015 paper co-authored by Louis- Philippe Beland , an assistant professor of economics at Canada ’ s Carleton University , researchers found banning mobile phones at school leads to an increase in student performance .
Writing for The Conversation , Beland said : “ Our results suggest that after schools banned mobile phones , test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4 per cent of a standard deviation . This is equivalent to adding five days to the school year or an additional hour a week .
“ The effects were twice as large for low-achieving students , and we found no impact on high achieving students .”
He said the results suggest that banning mobile phones has considerable benefits , including a reduction in the gap between high- and low- achieving students .
But two Australian academics said there was not sufficient data to back mobile phone bans in schools .
Professor Marilyn Campbell , from the Faculty of Education at the Queensland
University of Technology , and Amanda Third , a professorial research fellow at Western Sydney University , countered Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan ’ s belief that “ data shows a correlation between the uptake of mobile phones by young people and a downturn in student performance ”.
The minister pointed to Beland ’ s research when he put “ mobile phones on the agenda ” in a September 2019 meeting with the Education Council .
“ Our Government believes that banning mobile phones from the classroom will encourage students to focus on learning by removing a significant distraction ,” Tehan said at the time .
In a late 2020 article for The
Conversation , Campbell and Third said not all evidence is created equal “ and , when cited out of context , can obscure rather than illuminate the path forward ”.
The authors pointed out several limitations to Beland ’ s study .
“[ The study ] did not show that students ’ ‘ uptake ’ of mobile phones related to a ‘ downturn ’ in their performance . Rather , it showed restrictive school mobile phone policies related to an upturn in student performance . These are different things .”
They also stressed that correlation is not causation . “ Although media coverage correctly reported the study found a correlation , many people mistake correlation for causation . Cheese consumption strongly correlates to death by bedsheet entanglement , but we wouldn ’ t say cheese causes such deaths .”
Campbell and Third also pointed to research from Sweden , which showed banning mobile phones in high school had no impact on student performance , and added : “ The main problem ... is not the limitations of Beland and [ co-author Richard ] Murphy ’ s specific study . The real issue is the dearth of evidence to drive decision making about students ’ use of mobile phones at school .
“ Until this vacuum is addressed , we cannot know for certain mobile phone bans in schools are a good idea . And it remains possible current policies are compromising students ’ best interests , both now and into the future .”
In his most recent article , published three months after Campbell and Third ’ s , Beland said newer studies from Spain and Norway also showed compelling evidence on the benefit of banning mobile phones on student performance .
“ In Spain , banning mobile phones has been shown to increase students ’ scores in maths and science . Researchers also documented a decrease in incidences of bullying ,” he said .
“ In Norway , banning phones significantly increased middle school students ’ grade point average . It also increased students ’ likelihood of attending an academic high school rather than choosing a vocational school . And it decreased incidents of bullying .”
He also pointed to the Swedish study , which showed no impact , but added : “ It is worth noting ... the study did not find any detrimental effect of banning mobile phones .”
The research does not discount the possibility mobile phones could be a useful teaching tool , Beland said , but added : “ Ignoring or misunderstanding the evidence could be harmful to students and lead to long term negative social consequences .” ■ educationreview . com . au | 25