Some Northland principals say forbidding students to use their phones in school shouldn't have been mandated by the Government. Photo / 123 rf
Some Northland principals say forbidding students to use their phones in school shouldn't have been mandated by the Government. Photo / 123 rf
Northland principals say a new rule forbidding students to use their phones at school is having positive effects on learning but some say it shouldn’t have been a government mandate.
While many schools already had their own cellphone policies in place, the big difference is they must now also ensure students do not use or access a phone at all during school hours, including during lunchtime and breaks. This includes students on a school course or visit outside the school grounds.
Te Mānihi Tumuaki Northland Secondary Principals’ Association chair Natasha Hemara, who is also the principal of Kamo High School, said the general consensus among secondary principals towards the new rule was positive.
However, there was a lot going on in schools at the moment, so she could see how some principals might feel the Government was over-reaching by imposing yet another requirement.
Some schools had already introduced the full extent of the new regulation at the start of term one while others were preparing for the change next term.
Northland Principals' Association chair Natasha Hemara, who is the principal at Kamo High School. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The rule was easy to implement at Kamo High School, which already had an existing policy, Hemara said.
“Our community has been extremely supportive, and for us this has been an excellent example of a positive home/school partnership working together to focus on impacts that are positive for teaching and learning.
“When we are dealing with a change that will positively support our core business of education then it is a win-all situation.”
The school had noticed more positive social interactions between students during break times and students becoming more involved in clubs and student-led initiatives, Hemara said.
Schools had to deal with issues during the Covid pandemic, including the mandate around mask-wearing, so were now well equipped to manage other new processes and procedures efficiently, she said.
Whangārei Boys' High School principal Karen Smith. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei Boys High School principal Karen Smith said: “I’m not a huge fan of government mandating things like this because I think it’s up to individual schools to manage what they do, but it has had a really positive impact on our school.”
Boys’ High also already had a policy that phones be put away during class time but implemented in term one the additional rule for phones to be away during breaks. She was pleased with how “incredibly receptive” the school community had been. In fact, it had made her wonder why they hadn’t extended the rule previously.
“Phones were previously a problem for sure in our school.”
The school had exempted “about four or five” students from the rule as they needed their phones for special reasons. For students who breached the rule, there was a tiered confiscation policy escalating to the need for a parent to come in and collect the phone.
“We’ve had the occasional boy that breaks the rules but it’s been phenomenally successful in terms of students interacting with each other positively.
“It took some time to get used to - we’re all used to pulling our phone out for various things so it did take a little bit of training but without exception, we’ve had positive feedback from teachers and quite remarkably positive feedback from many of the students as well and comments like, ‘the teacher can get on with teaching without having to deal with cellphones’.
Despite her dislike of the rule being mandated, she conceded it did take the pressure off the school in terms of defending and enforcing it.
“I’m not a fan of Governments imposing such draconian rules when schools already had the power to do it if they needed to.”
No phones had been allowed at Hora Hora school for at least the 24 years he’d been there.
If students wanted to make a phone call, they could ask to use a school phone in the foyer, where they could be heard talking.
He believed the new regulation was “just a smokescreen for the Government to try to say they’re doing something to help schools - it’s what I call a Clayton’s action“.
