Concerns that phones and social media are harming student learning and youth mental health have pushed school systems across Canada and the United States to restrict student phone use.
Are the restrictions working? We asked elementary and secondary teachers in Canada's largest school district, in collaborative research conducted with Elementary Teachers of Toronto and Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation Toronto.
Easy to announce, difficult to implement
This isn't the first, or even second time the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has attempted to ban phones.
In 2007, to combat student texting, the TDSB banned phones from schools. Research at the time found the policy was inconsistently implemented, as teachers who attempted to enforce it received little support from parents and school administrators.
The ban was dropped in 2011. In 2019, the TDSB and its provincial counterparts tried again. The outcome was the same: inconsistent enforcement, unsupported teachers and no real classroom change.
