Manitoba to make announcement on use of cellphones in schools this week, following Saskatchewan's ban
Manitoba is the only western Canadian province that hasn't introduced plans to restrict phones in schools
Manitoba, now the only western Canadian province without an overarching cellphone ban in school classrooms, says an update is coming.
"Manitoba's plan on cellphone use in classrooms will be revealed later this week," Ryan Stelter, a spokesman for Premier Wab Kinew, said Monday in a statement.
Manitoba became the only western Canadian province that has not introduced plans to restrict cellphones in schools following Saskatchewan's decision last week to ban the use of the devices in the upcoming school year.
Saskatchewan's policy applies to all kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms, and followed announcements in Alberta, B.C., Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The bans are designed to reduce distractions and help students focus in class.
Manitoba's education department says right now it is up to individual school divisions to develop and enforce technology use policies in their schools.
But in a statement, the department said it is talking to stakeholders "to ensure that provincial curriculum and use-of-technology guidelines are updated to be responsive to current technology-use patterns."
PCs calling for ban
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives have already called for a provincewide ban.
PC education critic Grant Jackson said he has heard from teachers who want policies in place so that they are not left to police these devices on their own in the classroom.
The PCs would like to see a ban in place for kindergarten to Grade 8.
"[Cellphones are] just the way of the world and I'm not saying go back in time. But I am saying that students need to be able to focus," Jackson said in an interview.
"I don't think we're setting our students up for success by allowing eight- and nine-year-olds to police themselves on their device use, and that's currently what's going on."
WATCH | Calls to turn off cellphones in Manitoba classrooms getting louder:
Some school divisions have already imposed their own cellphone bans, with one taking the restriction of screen time even further.
Manitoba's francophone schools division is set to restrict computer usage for elementary and middle school students starting this school year. It is directing teachers to limit screen time to no more than an hour a day while in the classroom.
This follows the division's decision to ban cellphones last year in all of its schools.
"We focus on maintaining literacy on computers so that kids are up to par. But is it the right thing to be five hours in front of a screen all day? We believe not," said division superintendent Alain Laberge.
Teachers for the francophone division's 24 schools told administrators it has been challenging to make sure the students are on task each day, said Laberge.
For the most part, Laberge said, staff and parents have been on board with the recent changes. There came some growing pains, such as substitute teachers not familiar with the changes or some students flouting the rules, but those eased with time, he said.
Hanover School Division expanding pilot
The Hanover School Division in southern Manitoba embarked on a pilot project last year with Stonybrook, one of its middle schools in Steinbach, Man., to see if a ban would be effective.
The division spoke with principals, the school board and parent councils and found they were in favour of a division-wide policy change for kindergarten to Grade 8, which is set to begin this school year.
Staff-reported behaviour at Stonybrook improved and there were fewer office referrals because of misuse of technology or problems that were occurring online, said Colin Campbell, Hanover's assistant superintendent.
Overall, he estimates the number of behavioural issues decreased by a third.
"The principal and vice-principal talked about a level of calm that was starting to present itself at school," he said.
The division previously found social media conflict would spill into the classrooms, which caused a distraction for students and teachers and would cut into instruction and social time.
In Winnipeg, Amanda Bray said it'll be a number of years until her eight-year-old daughter is carrying a cellphone with her. She agrees with restricting their use in schools.
"I think there's a time for learning and a time for cellphones," Bray said, while on her way to the outdoor pool at Kildonan Park.
Kade Smith hopes the province and school leadership treat phones as an important learning tool.
"It helps with anything that needs to be researched. It's not having to run to a book. It's right there in front of them."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from CBC's Ian Froese