Cellphone policy for N.S. public schools to be released Thursday
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Education Minister Becky Druhan is scheduled to release on Thursday her government’s plan for cellphone use in Nova Scotia public schools.
That plan, which will be unveiled during a news conference at 10 a.m. AT at a Halifax-area junior high, will be similar to the model announced earlier this year in Ontario, sources tell CBC News.
Students in elementary schools will be required to turn their phones off and keep them out of sight throughout the school day. Junior and senior high students will be required to have their devices off and out of sight during class time, unless their teacher is incorporating their use as part of classroom instruction.
Phone use will be permitted in junior and senior high schools when students are not in class.
The government is hoping that a provincewide directive from the Education Department will help back up teachers during the coming school year when the changes take effect. Individual schools could have firmer rules, if they so choose, according to a source.
The changes would be reassessed at the end of next school year.
WATCH | The case for banning mobile phones in N.S. classrooms
The Ontario government is introducing new measures to further crack down on cellphone use in schools as that province sees what it’s calling an “alarming rise” in phone-related distractions in classrooms. In Nova Scotia, the associate director of education policy for the Fraser Institute is calling for a full-out ban of mobile phones in classrooms in this province.
Druhan announced last month that she and officials in her department were looking at a new provincewide policy for cellphone and device use in public schools. The announcement Thursday is the culmination of meetings and consultation with a variety of groups.
Not just a school-hours problem
Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Ryan Lutes has previously said cellphones in class are “a distraction for students and they’re a classroom management nightmare for teachers,” although he cautioned that some teachers have found ways to incorporate them into their learning plans.
Lutes has also noted that problems with young people and cellphone use extend beyond classrooms, and that those conversations also need to happen for the benefit of young people.
“There are now pretty significant negative impacts and I think [as a] society, we need to get our heads wrapped around that,” he said in an interview last month.
“It’s not just a problem between 9 and 5 and school hours.”
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