Abstract:

The use of mobile phones in schools is a widespread concern in education worldwide, as in Sweden. Questions are raised about allowing or banning pupils to actively use mobile phones in school. In Sweden, mobile phones are the most widespread technology in use among secondary school pupils. Almost every pupil in secondary school has an own smartphone (Medierådet, 2017) and they bring them to school. In Sweden, schools differ in their approach towards mobile phone use. Even though there are some educational benefits of pupils’ mobile phone use in school (e.g., searching the internet, taking photos of teacher’s notes, connecting school’s LMS (learning management system) (Ott et al., 2018) educators, parents and politicians often regard mobile phone use in school as a harmful distraction. Many schools have forbidden the use of mobile phones during class with the argument that mobile phones can interfere with pupil’s concentration and have a negative influence on the study environment.

This case study addresses the role of mobile phones in school from the perspective of the pupils. The purpose is to investigate how secondary school pupils’, in a school with a mobile phone ban in the school policy, reasoning about the use of mobile phones during class. What are their perceptions of mobile phone use during class in a school with a mobile phone ban?

The data consist of three focus group interviews, totally 14 participants, in the grade seven to eight (12-14 years old) in a public secondary school in Sweden. The school is a 1:1 (one-to-one) school, where all pupils are provided with an internet connected laptop by the school. The school has a mobile phone ban in the school policy. The transcribed data was analyzed using a qualitative, thematic analysis that focuses on identifying patterns and variations in the pupils’ perceptions of mobile phone use during class.

From the pupils’ narratives, the results show that the pupils own mobile phones are present during class regardless the mobile phone ban. Even though the pupils thought that mobile phone use during class was inappropriate, most of the pupils used their mobile phones on an everyday basis. The use was mainly non-school related (e.g., social media, texting, gaming). The pupils’ statement regarding their reason to use mobile phones despite the mobile phone ban, was mainly because they perceived the teaching as boring.

Furthermore, the pupils’ narratives showed that the teachers had a diverse approach towards the ban, where some of the teachers allowed the pupils to use the mobile phone for school work. On those occasions, the use was mainly school related and the pupils used the mobile phone as a complement to the school laptop. The mobile phone was even the technology the pupils preferred to use for school work.

This case study indicates that a mobile phone ban in school could be questioned. Instead of teachers ensuring a mobile phone ban, teachers could have an important role guiding pupils towards appropriate mobile phone use during class. This since mobile phones today can be a powerful tool and used as a learning device in school.

References:
[1] Medierådet. (2017). Ungar & medier 2017. Stockholm: Medierådet.
[2] Ott, T., Magnusson, A., Weilenmann, A., & Hård af Segerstad, Y. (2018). “It must not disturb, it’s as simple as that”: Students’ voices on mobile phones in the infrastructure for learning in Swedish upper secondary school. Education and Information Technologies, 23(1), 517-536

Keywords:

Mobile phone, smart phone, pupils perspective, mobile phone ban, secondary school.