Latest news with #RasmusMeyer
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Finland restricts use of mobile phones during school day
Finland has passed legislation to restrict the use of phones and other mobile devices during the school day amid fears over their impact on student wellbeing and learning. Under the changes, which were approved by the Finnish parliament on Tuesday and will come into effect on 1 August, mobile devices will be heavily restricted during lesson times. Pupils will be allowed to use them only with the teacher's permission for healthcare or learning purposes. Finland is the latest European country to impose legal restrictions on the use of phones and other mobile devices in schools amid growing evidence of their impact on children and young people, including attention and self-esteem. Earlier this year, Denmark said it would ban mobile phones from all schools. The chair of the country's wellbeing commission, Rasmus Meyer, told the Guardian the measure was necessary to stop schools from being 'colonised by digital platforms' and urged the rest of Europe to follow suit. The Danish commission found that 94% of young people in the country had a social media profile before they turned 13 – despite that being the minimum age on many social media platforms – and that nine-to-14-year-olds spent an average of three hours a day on TikTok and YouTube. Other countries that have introduced mobile phone restrictions include France, which banned primary and secondary pupils from using their phones on school premises in 2018 and has been trialling a 'digital pause' for children up to the age of 15, and Norway, which recently announced a strict minimum age limit of 15 on social media. Tech companies, the Norwegian government said, were being 'pitted against small children's brains'. In the UK, a recent survey showed that 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools have some form of ban on phones, although there is no national statutory ban. The Finnish parliament has ordered the department of education and culture to carry out a study on the effects of restrictions on the use of mobile devices in Finland and internationally due to be completed by the end of next year. After this, if deemed necessary, the department for education will take further measures. Under the new rules, students will only be able to use their mobiles during class 'for learning purposes or to take care of their own health'. If a student disrupts teaching or learning with their mobile device, the principal or teacher will have the right to remove it. Schools will also be required to establish rules for the use and storage of mobile devices during lessons, meals and breaks. MPs who objected to the bill when it was voted on argued that the restrictions on phone use should have been extended to apply also to breaks and mealtimes. The Finnish education minister, Anders Adlercreutz, said in December that the job of schools was 'not only to teach knowledge, but also, for example, social skills'. He told the broadcaster YLE: 'I hope that through this, maybe we would play more during recess and talk more face-to-face, not just via mobile phone.'
The Guardian
05-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ban mobile phones in schools across Europe, says Danish expert
The whole of Europe should follow Denmark's lead by banning mobile phones from schools to stop them from being 'colonised by digital platforms', the chair of the country's wellbeing commission has said. Removing mobile phones from schools gave young people a 'pause' from online life, teaching them how to be part of analogue communities and train their attention spans, said Rasmus Meyer, who led the government commission to investigate growing dissatisfaction among children and young people. The commission's report, published last month, raised the alarm over the digitalisation of the lives of children and young people. Among its 35 recommendations was a change in legislation to ban phones from schools and after-school clubs – which the government has said it will impose across all folkeskole (comprehensive primary and lower secondary schools). The commission also said children under 13 should not have their own smartphone or tablet. In an interview with the Guardian, Meyer said all European countries should ban mobile phones in schools and called for EU regulation on it, adding: 'And if we find out in five years that it was better with the phones, we can reintroduce them. But I don't think that will be the case.' Schools should be phone-free 'to give young people a pause from online life, to teach them how to be in analogue communities and to train their attention ability … It's also a way of guarding schools and respecting them as important institutions in our society that shouldn't be colonised by these digital platforms.' Children who were not allowed to have phones in schools had better attention spans, he said, and were better at playing with one another and were quieter during lessons. Spending time together away from their phones at school, it is hoped, will help 'train' them in how to be around other children outside school. 'These developments have happened so fast that we, as a society, have been behind. This is our attempt to get ahead of the development and push back against this commercialised digitalisation of children's lives,' Meyer said. 'You can see it as a pushback, or a way of guarding the childhood against technologies that have been proven to damage a lot of kids' self-esteem and attention.' The commission found that 94% of young people in Denmark had a social media profile before they turned 13 – despite that being the minimum age for many social media platforms – and that nine- to 14-year-olds spent an average of three hours a day on TikTok and YouTube. Despite a clear connection between many of the problems affecting young children and young people – including with attention and self-esteem – many children in Denmark and across Europe are still permitted to take them into school. Meyer said: 'We wouldn't allow kids to bring their PlayStation into the classroom, but that is what really happens on a daily basis when we allow them to bring in their phone.' Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Children's safety online was often overlooked, he said. 'It's really shocking that we … accept that a lot of kids are spending 8-10 hours a day on their phones. We are very focused on their security in the physical world, but we have kind of given up online as parents and as a society.' Skolen på Grundtvigsvej in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, has been mobile-free since 2018. The school's headteacher, Helle Bjerg, said: 'It's very simple, you're not allowed to have your phone on you during school hours. When you enter the school all phones are gathered and when the school day ends you are give your phone again.' As a result, she said, children did not have their attention lured away by phones and they talked to each other more. But with much of learning materials digitalised, they still have issues with school computers. At their after-school club, in a big house nearby, children are allowed to keep their phones on them but are discouraged from using them. A sign on the door tells children they are entering a mobile-free zone, urging them to 'give yourself a good break from your mobile phone'. In slightly starker terms, it warns: 'Mobiles aren't going away, but friendship networks can.' Standing at the kitchen counter surrounded by freshly baked buns, the school and club pedagogue Hjalte Petersen said mobile-free children played together more. 'Many years ago, we had no rules about screens of any kinds, and many kids were just sitting on their own with their own telephone,' he said. 'Many were just in their own world.' Taking phones away encouraged interaction. 'If you take the screen away, obviously you have to do something else to not get bored and play together.'
BBC News
26-02-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Denmark to ban phones in schools
Denmark is set to ban smartphones in schools and after-school clubs. The education minister announced the move on Tuesday following recommendations from a group formed by the government to look at children's wellbeing. Although many schools in the UK have rules banning smartphones, they are not banned by England, Wales and Northern Ireland all have guidance for schools about phone use. Full details have not been released by the Danish government, but Mattias Tesfaye, Minister for Children and Education says a ban would mean "mobile phones and personal tablets will not be allowed at school, neither during break times nor during lessons".The plan follows recommendations from a youth wellbeing commission, which also recommended restricting the use of smartphones to those aged 13 and older."As soon as a phone enters a child's bedroom, it takes up all the space," Rasmus Meyer, president of the commission said. "It risks destroying their self-esteem. As soon as they have a gadget in their hands, their wellbeing suffers." In the last few years, there has been more focus on the potential harms to wellbeing from smartphone use. Research from the University of Birmingham earlier this month found that students who use their phones more often may see negative effects on their wellbeing and the research looked at schools which banned phones and schools that didn't and concluded that banning phones in school doesn't make much of a difference to pupils' grades or how they feel.
