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Ban Smartphones from Schools in Portugal?

Ban Smartphones from Schools in Portugal?

Regarding the ban on mobile phones in schools, the Council of Ministers has enacted the recommendation issued at the beginning of the school year that is now ending into law, i.e. the Government has effectively decided to ban the use of mobile phones in schools by students in the 1st and 2nd cycles of education. What is the scientific basis for this decision?

To support this decision, the media refers to a study that is not yet public, carried out in schools that have banned the use of mobile phones. In fact, all the news we read about the subject only mentioned the existence of “a study”, providing only some data that allegedly serves to support the decision, without providing any further information, apart from some comparative data.

According to the Minister of the Presidency's statement to the media, the study was developed by PLANAPP – Centre for Planning and Assessment of Public Policies. However, from what we were able to ascertain, the study was based on a long questionnaire – and according to some sources, “poorly prepared” – intended to be completed by Directors and Heads of Operational Assistants, whose completion was encouraged by DGEstE (Directorate General of School Establishments). There is no information on which schools responded to the survey – what the size and characteristics of the sample were – or whether only schools that adopted the ban on mobile phones voluntarily were surveyed or others that did not adopt the ban.

The study was not released, nor was the questionnaire on which it was based, who its authors were, whether the study was subject to peer review, which schools were surveyed, whether there were schools that did not adopt the ban acting as a control group so that we could compare the results with the schools that adopted the ban, and what past and present indicators were used to state that “half of the schools that banned mobile phones recorded a 'substantial reduction' in indiscipline and bullying ”.

It is also important to know how the direct correlation between these factors was established. For example, hypothetically, it is not because there are more crimes in the summer and because more ice cream is sold in the summer that we can say that ice cream consumption is responsible for the increase in crime in the summer.

On the other hand, in all the schools we have visited over the last 3 years, not a single one had objective data on cases of bullying in their establishment. Therefore, in the absence of the aforementioned information, we tend to believe that the “substantial reduction in […] bullying” is a “guess”.

Finally, questioning only principals and heads of operational assistants means hearing only those responsible for the decision and implementation of the measure. It seems a bit like deciding in one's own case. And why wasn't the rest of the school community heard? And what about the teachers? And the parents? And the students, who are the main people affected by the measure? Is their right to be heard, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, still being ignored? How can we expect them to adhere to the measure if the adults don't want them to be part of the solution?!

In our opinion, an external and independent assessment is necessary – PLANAPP and DGEstE are State bodies – to guarantee the impartiality of the results.

It should be noted that we are not in favor of the indiscriminate and unrestricted use of mobile phones in schools. What we do not agree with is the option of an outright ban, especially without listening to those most affected by the decision, the students.

It remains to be seen how the measure will be implemented, which, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, we will find out next week.

Finally, the Minister of Education and Science has publicly stated that he values ​​decisions based on science. This lack of transparency does not seem to us to be the best way to define policies based on science.

* Co-founders of the project Agarrados à Net

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