PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A new survey is shedding light on what teachers think about cell phone use in class, and you might not be surprised to learn they don’t like it.
The survey done by Study.com reveals that teachers are generally in favor of stricter cell phone policies. “Educators, for the most part, love their students, care about them, and really are there to help their students grow and learn, and their most valuable resource is their time,” said Dana Bryson with Study.com.
Nearly 1,000 teachers across the U.S., including some right here in Arizona, were interviewed about their schools’ current cell phone policies. They found that nearly 7 in 10 teachers in schools with stricter phone policies say these bans helped improve student engagement and also enhanced student safety.
“When there was an expectation from the school or the district about what was allowed or what wasn’t allowed, that set a tone that they weren’t having to enforce in class where every class had a different rule,” Bryson said.
The survey also revealed that teachers who had flexible policies spent over an hour each week managing cell phone use. “I think having a clear expectation and norm was important,” Bryson said.
While school districts across the nation have already begun implementing these cell phone bans, Bryson said she thinks more schools will hop on this trend. “I think in five years, cellphones will be checked at the door,” she said.
Districts like Apache Junction started a cell phone ban last year that requires students to turn their cell phones off when they enter the classroom and keep them off. But with this new law signed into effect by Gov. Katie Hobbs, Bryson said it’s likely we will see more polices like this in school districts across the Valley.
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