Smart regulation: cell phones in class only allowed for older students!

Smart regulation: cell phones in class only allowed for older students!

Uckermark, Deutschland - In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the digital world is redesigned in schools. With a clear focus on the use of smartphones and similar devices, Education Minister Simone Oldenburg (left) presented the "recommendations for the use of digital devices in school". These guidelines are particularly relevant for students in grades 1 to 9, because here the private use of smartphones in class, at the schoolyard and during school events outside the school area is prohibited. This means that the young generation has to do without the distraction through digital devices in order to concentrate on learning. Nordkurier reports that exceptions can be made in medical emergencies or to the well-migrated children.

The recommendation, however, leaves space for discussion: in grades 7 to 9, cell phone use can be allowed under certain conditions in specific learning situations. For upper grades (classes 10 to 12), there is even the possibility to use clearly defined rules on cell phones. This flexibility is considered important to meet the different needs of the students. Schools are encouraged to develop their own regulations and to involve students, parents and teachers in the process in order to create a common understanding.

a step -by -step approach

The schools must set their own regulations for the use of digital end devices by the second half of the school year 2025/26. From the school year 2026/2027, these regulations are to be tested in practice and evaluated in the following year. This also gives schools the freedom to find individual solutions in order to optimally implement the given framework conditions. Heike Walter, chair of the school management association MV, emphasizes the challenges of equipment with digital devices that need to be mastered.

The opinions of the participants

The recommendations were developed in cooperation with schools, student representatives and parents. Felix Wizowsky, Chairman of the State Student Council, emphasizes that the acceptance of these regulations is decisive and students should actively be involved in the process.
In this sense, parents' representatives such as Tobias Lankow also express that bans are not the right way. He calls it a bad pedagogical approach. Instead, it is important to take responsibility and to find a balanced relationship between use and supervision.

A comparison to Bavaria shows that the schools have given a clear framework for cell phone use where private use at primary schools is fundamentally excluded, while at secondary schools, regulations can be made as required and consulted with the school community. These differentiated regulations could serve as a model for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. [KM Bavaria] (https://www.km.bayern.de/ design/digitalization/Medien training/private- cell phone use) that without a school-owned usage order, a "mobile phone ban" generally applies, which takes additional pressure to create clear and fair regulations.

It remains to be seen how the schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania deal with these new guidelines, but the first steps into the digital future have already been taken. It will be interesting to see how the students and parents react to these changes and which solutions will find the respective educational institutions.