Banning mobile phones from schools saves one week's worth of
learning per pupil over an academic year, it has been claimed.
According to new research by Louis-Philippe Beland and
Richard Murphy, published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London
School of Economics, the effect of banning mobile phones from school premises
adds up to the equivalent of an extra week’s schooling over a pupil’s academic
year, according to research schools which banned the devices saw their
16-year-olds' test performance improve by 6.4%.
Mobile phone usage in Schools has only become a problem
within the last 15 years. In a survey conducted in 2001, no school banned
mobiles. By 2007, this had risen to 50%, and by 2012 some 98% of schools had
opted to restrict them. In the UK, more than 90% of teenagers own a mobile
phone; in the US, just under three quarters have one. The prevalence of the
devices poses problems for head teachers, whose attitude towards the technology
has hardened as it has become ubiquitous.
However, some schools are starting to allow limited use of
the devices. New York mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted a 10-year ban on phones
on school premises, with the city’s chancellor of schools stating that it would
reduce inequality.
The study was run in schools in Birmingham, London,
Leicester and Manchester before and after bans.
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