Should we allow children to bring phones to school? How is the issue of mobile phones regulated in schools?

Thursday, Sep 12, 2024

European countries debate student mobile phone use in schools, showing varied regulations and expert opinions on restriction vs. education.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

The issue of student mobile phone use during class has become a public concern across Europe, even appearing in political platforms. The European journalism project PULSE examines various measures implemented by different countries and expert opinions on these solutions. In Belgium, regulations vary regionally; Flanders allows school autonomy while the Wallonia-Brussels Federation mandates a ban in primary schools to combat cyberbullying and improve focus. Czech schools have the authority granted by their directors to impose bans, though national legislation does not enforce a blanket prohibition. Hungary has introduced a total ban on mobile phones, with schools deciding implementation methods. Austria lacks a general ban but sees calls for one, with its Ministry of Education recommending that phones be put away or set to airplane mode during lessons. Experts suggest that while short-term bans can help, long-term solutions should involve digital media education and behavioral agreements rather than outright prohibition. In Romania, the Student Statute mandates that mobile phones are not to be used during class hours and may be confiscated if misused.


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PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, Deník Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , Føljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

PULSE is driven by a sort of virtual transnational newsroom made up of journalists from all the publications involved. It collaboratively produces new journalistic content on European issues on a daily basis, coming in many different languages. The editorial output amounts to over a thousand publications per year, mostly in article form.

PULSE also runs 4 thematic networks open to any European journalist interested in crucial issues such as EU enlargement, relations between the EU and other global powers, the EU’s green transition, or media and the information society. These networks function as online communities and periodically publish calls for pitches.