Ruth Shinoda: ERO Education Evaluation Centre Head on the ban on phones in schools, the need for more parental support

Schools need more support from parents to get the most out a student phone ban. 

A "phones away for the day" policy's been in place since Term Two last year. 

An Education Review Office report shows two thirds of teachers saw a rise in student achievement, but only half of students are following the rules. 

Head of ERO Education Evaluation Centre Ruth Shinoda told Mike Hosking the number one reason students contravene the ban is to contact family. 

She says parents should phone the school office instead of their child, and shouldn't answer if their child calls. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Looks like the old cell phone band in schools is working.
New RO report tells us classroom learning has improved, kids
are more sociable, and we have a reduction in bullying
compliance though well less than forty percent. Apparently of year twelve,
thirteens are handing them in. Ruth Janoda as the hit
of the EER Education Evaluation Center, and she's back, Well
that's Ruth, good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So what are the numbers you've gotten in terms of
if they're not handing them in at years twelve and thirteen,
so are they doing it at nineteen and eleven for example?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah? Absolutely so if you said, really encouraging results so
far from their cell phone ban which came in last year,
improved focus, improved achievement, reduced bad behavior, and reduction in bullying.
So two thirds and secondary leader is the same. Billion's
gone down. But this is despite the fact that half
the secondary school students don't comply all the time, and
the number one reason they don't comply is actually to

(00:49):
contact all be contacted by their.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Parents, right, and so are the rules around that if
you can the kid just say to a teacher, I'm
not giving you the phone and that's seemed that is it, No,
so Imprice school.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
What happens is they generally confiscate them at the beginning
of the day and then they give them back at
the end of the day. In secondary schools they tell
them to put them away the day. But the way
the phones away for the day is in fact the requirement.
Secondary school students are sort of sneaking at break times, bathrooms,
popping out, using in other places and when they're caught.
But number one reason they feel they're doing it is
because they're contacted by or are contacting their parents. And

(01:22):
so we're saying to parents today up and down the country,
if your phone, if you want to phone your child
today in the school office, if your child's phones don't
answer them at the end of the day, tell them
the phone's supposed to be away, because we know that
it makes a difference to learning.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, but also they're not ringing their parents, and their
parents aren't ringing them. You must understand that, Ruth. That's
the first excuse they come up with. What they're doing
is gaming and texting and sitting on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Actually it's a bit of a mixture. So we did
talk to parents and they did say they are contacting
their students, you know, things like if you've got this kid,
are you picking up here? A third of parents actually
worry about not being able to contact their students through
the day. So we're saying, as an VAM, yes, we
need to make sure that we've got parents backing schools,
because we found if parents resist, students are twice as

(02:08):
likely to be breaking the rules. There's a really strong
relationship there. I'll tell you what works though, taking the
phone off kids, confiscating it, notifying the parents. Schools that
do that have strong enforcements students compliance doubles good.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
The results you're getting it is I take it observational.
So in other words, they're telling you they think that
bullying is down. There's nothing hard data woush about it.
It's just an observation set fear.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
So what we know is that teachers know really well
what's going on in their class. So we had ten
thousand teachers, leaders, students and parents and boards telling us
what's going on in schools. We also interviewed. We have
board assurance statements where they report to EERO, and of
course EERO goes in and looks at schools everything is
reporting the same thing, and teachers don't generally say billing's
gone down if it hasn't, and certainly not two thirds

(02:55):
of school leaders. So they're seeing a big shift, and
that's because you know what it's like. If they can't
take the phone out and click people fighting, people fight this,
if they can't send each other aggressive text and messages
in past, really reduces the billing. But you're right when
you said earlier that whilst getting rid of cell phones
is a great first step, we still have got more to.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Do good stuff. Ruth, appreciate your time as always, Ruth Shanoda,
who's the hit of the eer evaluation that seem to
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