Paige MacPherson is the associate director of education policy, and Tegan Hill is the associate director of Alberta policy, at the Fraser Institute.
According to a new directive from Danielle Smith’s provincial government, September will mark the start of restrictions on the use and presence of smartphones in Alberta schools. While the directive is light on details, one thing is clear: given mounting evidence that smartphone distraction can hinder academic performance, if the province or individual school authorities refuse to ban smartphones in the classroom, students will continue to suffer the consequences.
Indeed, research has shown that simply having a smartphone nearby is enough to distract students from completing a task, and that it takes students 20 minutes to regain their focus on learning after being distracted. And when schools removed smartphones from the classroom in Britain, Belgium and Spain, learning outcomes improved, especially for underperforming kids.
Moreover, the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, overseen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), found a clear connection between smartphone distraction and declining student achievement, particularly in math. Specifically, 80 per cent of Canadian students report being distracted by the digital devices of other students in math class – and across OECD countries, students who were distracted by smartphones in math class scored 15 points lower on PISA math tests than those who were not distracted. (PISA equates a 20-point drop in student test scores with one year of learning loss.)
Again, this is not just students distracted by their own devices, which are obvious attention-zappers for kids and teens. This also constitutes students distracted by the devices of other students. The research on digital distraction and its impact on student achievement makes clear that only a smartphone ban – with very few exceptions – will save kids from digital distraction.
And notably, Alberta’s PISA math scores have fallen 45 points in the past two decades (from 2003 to 2022), which PISA equates to more than two years of lost learning, with the decline predating COVID-related school closings.
The empirical evidence against smartphones in schools is mounting. But it’s also common sense, and people understand. The Alberta government’s own survey revealed that almost 90 per cent of more than 68,000 respondents – including parents, teachers, students and principals – had concerns about phone use in schools. This is consistent with other public opinion research in Canada. One survey showed 80 per cent of Canadians support banning phones in public schools. Another found that 51 per cent of Albertans said that phones should be banned in K-12 classrooms, and another 40 per cent said they should not be allowed unless directed by a teacher.
In 2019, the Ontario government issued a similar directive restricting smartphones in K-12 schools, which was nearly pointless because the government left the specifics up to school boards to determine on their own (just as the Smith government is now leaving the specifics up to school authorities in Alberta). Without being able to point to an overarching policy, Ontario teachers have spent too much time surveilling and nagging in class, and many have stopped trying to enforce the directive altogether.
In its own directive, the Smith government indicated that there will be exceptions to the rule, not only for reasonable health and medical needs (e.g. blood-sugar monitoring) but also for “learning needs, and for educational purposes.” There are valid reasons why certain students might need access to a smartphone in the classroom for their health and/or learning needs, but a high bar must be set for these exemptions, which must also be clearly outlined by the Alberta government. Additionally, the government and school authorities must unequivocally support teachers in their efforts to enforce smartphone restrictions in their classrooms. To actually accomplish the goal of eliminating digital distraction in schools, the provincial education ministry must support school authorities, who must then support principals, who must then support teachers in enforcing an actual ban with only valid exceptions allowed.
While we should be skeptical of reflexive government “bans” in general, smartphones clearly impede student learning and socialization in schools. Banning smartphones in K-12 public schools is the right move. But a patchwork approach, which accommodates endless exemptions, won’t free Alberta classrooms from the negative effects of digital distraction.