France to trial 'no mobile phones' in 200 secondary schools

THE SCHEME COULD BE ROLLED OUT TO ALL COLLÈGES IF SUCCESSFUL Some 200 secondary schools (collèges) in France are to trial smartphone confiscation, in a new ‘digital pause’ scheme that could

be rolled out nationwide if successful. Education Minister Nicole Belloubet announced the plan on August 27 at the ‘conférence de Rentrée’ ahead of schools going back in September. She said

it would - if all goes as expected - be rolled out in all collèges “from January 2025”. The plan would see lockers installed in collèges, in which all students would be required to leave

their mobile phones.  Mobile phones have been banned in collèges since 2018, but the rule is difficult to enforce and not always respected, not only in class, but also in school corridors

and outside grounds.  The lockers would be partially paid for by local authorities, and be supported by school heads and management in order to properly enforce the rule. In early April, Ms

Belloubet first suggested the idea of a “complete digital break during the eight (daily) hours of collège“, saying later, in May, that the government would bring in an ‘experiment’ involving

the installation of lockers, from September 2024. It comes after the subject was studied by the ‘commission écran (screen commission)’ - a team of experts tasked by President Macron to

examine the effects of exposure on children and teenagers to screens. The commission’s recommendations included the banning of mobile phone access to children before the age of 11, and to

social networks before the age of 15. UK ALREADY IMPLEMENTING ‘SMARTPHONE FREE’ SCHOOLS The idea is not unique to France; in June in the UK, a group of schools in south London announced a

‘smartphone-free’ policy, with 17 out of the 20 secondary schools in the borough of Southwark agreeing to confiscate students’ phones if they were seen using the devices during school hours.

If the phone is a ‘dumb’ phone, without access to the internet, it is returned relatively quickly. If it is a smartphone, teachers may retain it for up to a week, or for as long as it takes

for the student’s parents to collect it. Some of the schools imposed the policy for pupils in years 7 to 9 (ages 11 to 14), others have adopted the approach across the entire school (ages

11 to 18). More generally in the UK, schools are free to set their own smartphone policies, including confiscation and the requirement to keep phones in lockers during lessons.

‘American-style’ lockers are common in secondary schools. Similarly, UK operator EE has advised parents not to give a smartphone to children before the age of 11. If they really need a

phone, it recommends that they use a ‘feature phone’, which has basic functions to allow texting and calling, but no internet access. It also recommends that parents apply parental controls

and limits on phone use for children aged 11-13, and 13-16.