By Natasha Fujimoto
IN an ideal world, students in classrooms across Australia would know when, and when not to use their mobile phones during school hours.
Further, the same students would navigate only to the most instructive educational sites, restraining from social media or any distracting web pages, communities or apps that did not complement their learning, until the final bell of the day.
While some experts believe mobile phone access in classrooms better prepares students for the real-world experience, most of the nation’s students are required, as a matter of policy, to secure their phones in lockers during school hours.
At both Notre Dame College (NDC) and Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC), students adhere to similar policies to promote a safe, distraction free learning environment.
Consigning personal devices to lockers, the 2020 Department of Education’s Mobile Phone in Schools Policy (abided by GSSC) also aims to promote greater opportunities for social interaction and physical activity during recess and lunchtimes.
Following suit and in line with the Education Department’s Ministerial order, NDC acknowledges in its policy that while ‘… parents may wish their child to carry a mobile phone for personal safety reasons, the right of a student to have access to a mobile phone at College must be balanced with the responsibility to use it appropriately.’
For both schools, preventing the unsociable misuse of phones and eliminating the insidiousness of cyberbullying lie at the core of their aligned action.
Technology, nevertheless, remains an embedded and vital part of both colleges’ educational landscape with the provision of individual laptops dispersed to thousands of students along with specialist learning software and expansive IT teams to support it.
