The Daily Populous Wednesday July 30th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by Aralknight

Bans on smartphones in Dutch schools have improved the learning environment despite initial protests, according to a study commissioned by the government of the Netherlands.

National guidelines, introduced in January 2024, recommend banning smartphones from classrooms and almost all schools have complied. Close to two-thirds of secondary schools ask pupils to leave their phones at home or put them in lockers, while phones are given in at the start of a lesson at one in five.

Researchers surveyed 317 secondary school leaders, 313 primary schools and conducted 12 focus groups with teachers, teaching assistants, students and parents. Secondary schools reported that children found it easier to concentrate (75%), the social environment was better (59%) and some said results had improved (28%).

Dr Alexander Krepel, a researcher at the Kohnstamm Instituut, said interactions between pupils had improved the most. “It’s not possible to secretly take a picture of someone in the classroom and then spread it in a WhatsApp group, so there’s an increase in social safety,” he said. “Especially in the breaks between the lessons, students would be on their phones and now they’re forced to talk … Maybe they also get into a fight a bit more often but schools, teachers and students are quite happy with how the atmosphere is better.”

Initial fears surrounding the ban proved unfounded, according to Freya Sixma, spokesperson for the VO-raad secondary education council, which represents schools and governing boards. “There was quite a lot of protest at first from schools, teachers, students, parents, questions about how it would all work,” she said. “But now you see that actually everyone is pretty happy.”

The study showed in special schools, where exceptions can be given for learning support devices, about half reported that the ban had had a positive or very positive effect. In primary schools, smartphones did not have a huge effect before the ban, but a quarter were positive about it.

Mariëlle Paul, the minister for primary and secondary education, said the national guideline helped classroom discipline. “Teachers and school leaders indicated that if an individual teacher wanted to ban the mobile from his or her class it would always be a discussion,” she said. “More inexperienced teachers would have difficulties enforcing that.”

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Statistics Netherlands reports that 96% of children go online almost every day, mostly through their phones. Last month, the caretaker government advised parents to ban social media for under-15s and limit screen time, while one MP has proposed a total ban on smartphones in schools.

popteachingculture on July 30th, 2025 at 14:32 UTC »

The school I teach at in the US banned smartphones and the results have been amazing. Our students are more engaged, there’s been less bullying, fighting, skipping class. The best part is that you walk into a room and you hear the kids talking to each other!

Revolutionary_Year87 on July 30th, 2025 at 11:32 UTC »

As an Indian it was honestly a massive culture shock for me when I learnt people in some countries were allowed phones at school.

Ours would be confiscated if we were even found with a phone in our bag. Sometimes they wouldnt return the phone till the end of the school year (is that legal? Idk but you probably dont wanna get kicked out of school over this)

CtrlAltComment on July 30th, 2025 at 08:19 UTC »

Many countries ban them during school hours. Where I work, the homeroom teacher locks up the phones until it's time to go home. All personal devices also. I can't imagine dealing with kids using phones in class.