Dr. Laura Ayres Secondary School in Quarteira is developing a plan to restrict the use of smartphones in certain areas of the school, a plan that has the support of students at this level.
Starting this school year, it became a rule to prohibit the use of smartphones in the 1st and 2nd cycles of primary education, something that the group already did last school year, and this year decided to extend the measure, in other ways, to secondary education.
Dalila Afonso, the director of the school group, one of the largest in the Algarve, with eight schools and a total of approximately 3000 students, explained to Lusa news agency that this year she decided to go a "little further", by extending the measure to secondary school and involving students in defining rules for the use of cell phones at school.
"We felt it was important to take some new measures here as well, not with the total ban restrictions as at EB2 & 3, but with some adaptations, especially because we're talking about older students, a very large outdoor space that's difficult to monitor, and we think we'll have to focus more on raising awareness for these students," she said.
According to the person in charge, the next step is to gather input from the school community and promote activities during breaks as an alternative, through the school radio, making games available to students, and also installing ping-pong tables in more visible locations.
The restriction on smartphones will likely occur in some areas of the school, such as the cafeteria, as well as the library and classrooms, which was already the case before, although many students still used them - many have difficulty disconnecting.
"In certain places and situations, banning mobile phone is really helpful, especially in the classroom. We get distracted, we lose focus, we're always disconnected from the real world. We're very distracted and dependent on our phones, and in some situations, it's really important to disconnect for a bit," admits 12th-grade student, Grace Cleaton.
The 12th-grade student even says that it's the students themselves who are realizing that socializing becomes very difficult with the use of cell phones: "We can't have the same social skills when we're always glued to our phones," she admits.
Teacher Luísa Cavaco, who is also a member of the school's General Council, says that students are often the first to ask for a curb on cell phone use, especially when used, for example, to film assaults or share inappropriate information.
"Some of them also report a certain dependence on their cell phones; they no longer know how to have a normal conversation without looking at their phones. So it's a relearning process, and they will be sharing this change with us," she emphasized.
Student Ricardo Lopes, from the same year, also said that, especially in classrooms, there were many students who "needed to take out their cell phones," even if it was just to check the time, a behaviour that teachers are working hard to discourage.
“Today, in the presentations, the class teachers reinforced the fact that the use of cell phones in the classrooms is prohibited. I had class today and I didn't see any students trying to take their mobile phone out, and when there was an occurrence of it even reaching into a pocket, the teachers quickly warned us,” he said.
Gonçalo Relvas, in 11th grade, believes the measure is well thought out, especially in a school with students from so many countries – in total, the group has 62 nationalities – where cell phones end up making it difficult to interact and meet other people.
"I think there are only 10 Portuguese people in my class, and there are 25 of us. The only thing that has helped over the years has been the translator, but more and more people are speaking English, and if they tried to communicate more without using their cell phones, I think it would be much better," he says.
Patrícia Jesus, a teacher and also a member of the General Council, has no doubt that if students are involved in defining the rules for using cell phones, the measure will tend to be more successful and monitoring will be more effective, because it will also come from the students and not just from the few staff members who are in the schools.
Sérgio Costa, from the Parents' Association, states that there is a lack of non-teaching staff, but he also knows that it is impossible to have 100% supervision, as schools are large and, even with a large number of staff, it will always be difficult to achieve measures like this successfully.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - Photo courtesy of Depositphotos.com
