Details of a new policy removing cellphones from P.E.I. classrooms will be released Tuesday, Education Minister Natalie Jameson announced on Island Morning.
“This is an important step forward as we start to really take a deep dive in terms of what technology can look like in our classrooms,” said Jameson.
“We just want to make sure that we limit it for a variety of reasons, including the mental health of our students and limiting distractions.”
More details will come in the form of a ministerial directive, she said.
The policy will be different in elementary schools and in junior and senior high schools. For Kindergarten to Grade 6 phones will be required to be out of view, powered off or set to silent. In Grades 7 to 12, cellphones will have to be stored away and powered off during instructional time.
These new rules are in line with national trends, Jameson said.
Similar policies are already in place in some schools, she said, but the ministerial directive will give those policies more teeth.
Phones can lead to student-teacher conflict
P.E.I. Teachers’ Federation president Andy Doran, also on Island Morning as part of a panel discussion on the issue, welcomed the announcement.
“Distractions in the classroom, whether it’s noise or whether it’s just students on their phones not paying attention, have been a problem for a while,” said Doran.
“Teachers, we’re on the front lines, we’re the ones asking the students for their cell phones, asking them to turn them off. Sometimes that leads to conflict and sometimes it takes away from the learning of all the students.”
He said parents will play a big role. They need to know what the policy is and send their children to school with that understanding.
Jameson agreed.
“They have a tremendous role to play as it relates to this new directive,” she said. “A letter will go out to families describing what’s required under this new policy directive.”
