Nearly 70 per cent of Quebecers are opposed to the use of cell phones in school classes, even for educational purposes at the teacher’s request, according to a new Léger survey.
In the survey conducted from May 3 to 5 by the Quebec firm, 68 per cent of Quebec respondents indicated that cell phones should not be authorized in classes, the highest rate among the different Canadian regions listed.
Survey participants could also choose to answer that cell phones should be banned in classes, unless the teacher asks students to use them for educational purposes. In Quebec, 27 per cent of respondents chose this option.
Only 3 per cent of Quebec participants supported that cell phones should simply be allowed in classes – the lowest rate among the regions listed – while 2 per cent said they did not know.
If the rates of people in favor of using cell phones in classes and of people undecided are less than or equal to 10 per cent throughout Canada, Quebec stands out with a lesser tendency to want to allow students to use their cell phones for educational purposes.
Nationally, 36 per cent of respondents felt that students should be able to use their cell phones for educational purposes at the request of their teacher, compared to 27 per cent by isolating respondents from Quebec.
Conversely, Quebec is above the national average regarding the proportion of people who want cell phones to be completely banned in class, at 68 per cent compared to 55 per cent.
Across the country, younger respondents are also more inclined to want to allow students to take out their cell phones for educational activities with their teacher.
Among those aged 18-34, almost half of respondents (47 per cent) believe that cell phones should be allowed for educational purposes only, compared to 32 per cent among those aged 35-54 and those aged 55 and over.
Conversely, the higher the age of the respondents, the more opposition to cell phones in class increases: it increases from 37 per cent among 18-34 year olds to 59 per cent among 35-54 year olds and reaches 63 per cent among 55 years and over.
The proportion of respondents in favor of cell phones in classes also increases from 10 per cent among 18-34 year olds to 6 per cent among 35-54 year olds to 2 per cent among those 55 and over.
The Léger survey, commissioned by the site secondstreet.org, was carried out among 1,519 Canadians aged 18 and over. It has no margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
A debate in Quebec
In Quebec, since the return of the holidays, cell phones have been banned in primary and secondary school classes, unless the teacher asks students to use them for educational purposes.
Students with special needs, due to a disability or an adjustment or learning difficulty, can also use it in certain cases.
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, presented this measure as a way of “creating a climate more conducive to teaching and learning in order to promote the academic success of students”.
Last week, the Parti Québécois suggested extending the ban beyond classrooms, also banning cell phones from hallways and cafeterias during breaks.
Called upon to comment on this idea, Minister Drainville at least did not rule it out.
“On the screens, there is a strategy. (…) This strategy must be renewed. We are thinking about this. It’s a subject that is very important, we recognize it,” declared Drainville last Tuesday during a press scrum at the National Assembly.
“But hey, we didn’t wait to act, we banned cell phones in classes. Should we go further? We’re thinking about it, we’ll get back to you on that,” he added.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews