Valencia schools have brought in a ban on mobile phones at school, with powers to confiscate devices from pupils who transgress, says Eugene Costello.
Valencia schools have brought in a ban on mobile phones at school, with powers to confiscate devices from pupils who transgress.
More than 800,000 pupils from primary to tertiary institutions are banned from turning on phones at school. Schools will confiscate devices from those who transgress. Many schools predict that they will have to carry out many such confiscations.
The regional Ministry of Education has also signalled more hours of maths and English. They also offer the option to take exams in any language. This is good news for Spanish children. And also the children of immigrants who wish to practise their mother tongue. Older Spaniards often say that the reason they cannot speak English is because the quality of teaching when they were young was atrocious. This seems to be a sensible approach to improve the offer. After all, English is the international language of business. For that reason, it should be applauded.
When the rule was brought in at the end of May, Education Minister Jose Antonio Rovira Jover, said: “The general rule is that phones are prohibited from all non-university centres and cannot be used until the end of the school day.
“We will also promote a responsible use of the internet and social networks as we want to encourage security,” Rovira added.
“We have listened to experts and we know that the indiscriminate use of phones without supervision can cause difficulties in learning and coexistence,” said Rovira.
Confiscations and exceptions
No details have been shared so far about how device confiscations will work. At my daughter’s school in London when she was there, if a pupil was caught using a phone, it was confiscated. It would remain so until end of school on the Friday of that week. Repeated transgressions meant that the phone would remain under lock and key until the end of term. Many felt that this was harsh but it was certainly effective. It will be up to individual schools in Valencia to decide what sanctions they will impose.
Pupils here must have their devices switched off from the time they set foot at school and leave them off until they leave at the end of the day. The only exceptions will be for pupils who have a specific and valid reason for using them, such as diabetic pupils who need to monitor and control their levels of insulin, for example.