School cellphone ban: How bans in other countries have worked, Ministry of Education advice revealed

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford visit Manurewa Intermediate School last Friday. Photo / Jason Dorday

At the start of the week, students were told to put their cellphones away in class, as the Government’s cellphone ban took full effect across the country. The Herald can reveal the advice the Ministry of Education gave the Government over the policy, and how similar tactics have played out across the ditch and beyond.

What is New Zealand’s school cellphone ban?

As the second term of the school year kicked off, the Government’s new ban on cellphones in schools was officially put into force. The “phones away for the day” plan was already being rolled out across some schools before the mandatory requirement, though regulations were made official from Monday, April 29.

National leader Christopher Luxon announced National would “ban cellphone use at schools to help lift achievement and support every child”.

The policy applies throughout the school day, including during break periods and lunch times. Students who are on a school course or a visit outside school grounds are also not allowed to use their phones.

Some exemptions are allowed. Schools are required to allow students to access phones if needed for health reasons, learning support or a specific education-related task in the classroom. Those with “special circumstances”, like teenage parents, may also be made exempt from the rule, according to the Ministry of Education guidelines.

Individual schools have been tasked with deciding how to enforce and manage the cellphone restrictions themselves. The Ministry of Education has noted there are no specific required processes around requiring phones to be handed in, kept in bags, kept in lockers, or put in a “phone jail”, a now relatively commonplace tactic across classrooms.

There are no specific mandatory rules around what a breach of the rules should entail.

Schools have been asked to consider “scheduling a review of the rules to consider if they need to be adjusted to address any emerging challenges”, according to official documents from the ministry.

Government warned ban ‘may not be warranted’

The Ministry of Education appeared to warn the Government to tread carefully and make the right decisions, by citing a Unesco report in its policy research. “One issue is whether the ban should just be for mobile phones or for other mobile devices,” official advice read.

Documents suggest a legislative mandatory ban “may not be warranted,” with comment from Unesco stating “working with technology in schools, and the accompanying risks, may require something more than banning”.

Policymakers were urged to make policies clear around what is and what is not permitted in schools, with more clarity required for the role new technologies can play in schools. Alarm bells appeared to be raised around smartwatches.

The Ministry of Education had not considered banning cellphones in classrooms prior to the Government’s announcements.

Ministry of Education Schools Policy general manager Jennifer Fraser told NZME the ministry “did not consider banning phones in classrooms before 2023 because it was not a priority for the Government at that time”.

Fraser said there was “mixed evidence” associated with a ban on technology, “including cellphones”.

In a statement, Education Minister Erica Stanford said the policy has been “overwhelmingly successful” so far.

“Principals have been writing to me every day, telling me how wonderful it is to hear the noise in the playground. Librarians are telling me kids are taking books out of the library more often. Students themselves are telling us that they don’t have the anxiety of having to check their phone every five minutes for messages that are coming in,” Stanford said.

The minister believes the policy has been popular: “I’m sure that the schools who will be implementing [the ban] in term 2 will be doing the same because they can see the benefits.”

How many other countries have introduced similar bans? Have they been effective?

The Ministry of Education looked across the world as it provided its official advice to Cabinet. Briefing notes describe policies, enforcement initiatives and the effectiveness of separate bans in Australian states, and across Asia and Europe.

A cellphone ban in Britain is deemed “not mandatory” by New Zealand’s Ministry of Education. In the UK, it is currently up to head teachers to decide whether or not a phone ban should be put in place. Just weeks prior to the New Zealand general election, British Education Secretary Gillian Keegan “threatened” to pass legislation to ban mobile phones in schools, if schools fail to implement new guidance, the briefing notes from the Ministry of Education said.

Keegan suggested phones were a distraction and used for bullying.

A study from the London School of Economics, looking at 91 UK high schools in 2015, found student performance improved by 6.41 per cent after a ban - corresponding to an extra working week in the school year.

Any gains from a potential ban are wiped away if there is a lack of compliance in the policy.

Advice from New Zealand’s Ministry of Education disputes this. In an academic review of policies across jurisdictions, the agency found “there is little research on the relationship between the use of mobile phones and bullying in schools”. The ministry estimates around 20 per cent of bullying cases happen via online-based means.

The documents, seen by NZME under the Official Information Act, suggest banning mobile phones has the “potential” to reduce bullying in intermediate-school-aged children.

According to a review by the New South Wales Government in Australia, there was “no credible, peer-reviewed literature about the extent to which the presence of mobile phones in recess and lunchtime increases the incidents of cyber bullying”. It was said to be difficult to determine the extent to which mobile phone access in schools impacts and influences cyber bullying, as students can still access their phones outside of school hours under the policy.

A “digital technology” policy came into force in public schools in New South Wales in 2020, though further restrictions banning mobile phones for high school students came into force in April 2023.

The policy served as an election promise from current Premier, Chris Minns.

In New South Wales, a blanket ban applies during class, recess and lunchtimes, for smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops and other devices that can connect to the internet. Students are allowed to carry their phones when travelling to and from school and parents and caregivers can request an exemption from parts of the policy, or the entire thing.

In Queensland, a mandatory ban came into force at the start of the first term, applying to all school hours, including breaks.

Principals have been given the authority to determine how mobile phones and smartwatches under the ban will be stored during the day.

Further research cited by the Ministry of Education, from the University of Queensland, said there was a “lack of agreement as to the efficacy of banning mobile devices at school as a universal strategy to reduce cyber bullying”.

In Western Australia, mobile phones are barred across public schools. Kids up to Year 6 who decide to bring a phone to school must have it stored with teachers for the entire day, with students in Years 7 to 12 told to keep their phone off and out of sight until the end of school.

The same exemptions in Western Australia are in force in New Zealand and under the policy in the Australian state, breaches are responded to with a “multi-tiered system”.

Many Australian schools have said the distracting element of phones was a catalyst behind the ban.

Despite the lack of confidence from Australia in terms of a phone ban being effective for bullying, the ministry’s advice also cites a Spanish study which found banning mobile phones at schools reduced bullying among teenagers.

Dr Joanne Orlando from the University of Western Sydney disagrees the ban would do anything to combat bullying. Orlando said in-person bullying continues to be more prevalent than cyber bullying, “so removing a device for six hours a day will not stop the bullying.”

The advice wasn’t all dismissive of the policy’s effectiveness, with proof mobile phones had a negative impact on learning in 14 countries, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [Unesco] study cited in briefings.

In Norway, a similar policy of banning smartphones in the classroom in middle schools, the equivalent of intermediate, showed following the policies, students’ grade point average increased.

Students in France over the age of 15 are required to keep their phones off during the school day, with exceptions for some.

Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, public service agency reform and transport.