ENG2601 Assignment 3
2024 - DUE 5 August
2024
➢ Essay well written
➢ Ask for any help needed
, ENG2601 Assignment 3 2024 - DUE 5 August 2024
Banning mobile phones in schools can improve students’ academic performance. This is how we know.
Author: Louis-Philippe Beland Published: March 21, 2021, 8.49pm SAST The effects of mobiles phones
and other technology at school is a hotly debated topic in many countries. Some advocate for a complete
ban to limit distractions, while others suggest using technology as a teaching tool. Kids in public South
Australian primary schools started the school year without being allowed to bring their mobile phones to
class, unless they are needed for class activity. All students in public Western Australian Victorian, and
Tasmanian schools have a mobile phone ban in place since for all or some of 2020. New South Wales
also banned mobile phones in public primary schools, with secondary schools having the option to opt
in, since the start of 2020. Education departments have introduced the bans for various reasons
including to improve academic outcomes and decrease bullying. Several recent papers point to positive
impact of banning mobile phones at school on student performance and other outcomes. Understanding
the evidence is crucial for best policy. In a 2015 paper, we used a method — called a difference-in-
difference strategy — as well as student data from England to investigate the effect of banning mobile
phones on student performance. In this method, we compared schools that have had phones removed
to similar schools with no phone bans. This allowed us to isolate the effect of mobiles phones on student
performance from other factors that could affect performance. We found banning mobile phones at
school leads to an increase in student performance. Our results suggest that after schools banned
mobile phones, test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4% of a standard deviation. This is
equivalent to adding five days to the school year or an additional hour a week. The effects were twice as
large for low-achieving students, and we found no impact on high achieving students. 4 Our results
suggest low-performing students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones,
while high performing students can focus with or without mobile phones. The results of our paper
suggest banning mobile phones has considerable benefits including a reduction in the gap between high-
and low- achieving students. This is substantial improvement for a low-cost education policy. Other
studies show similar results. Recent studies from Spain and Norway, using a similar empirical strategy to
ours, also show compelling evidence on the benefit of banning mobile phones on student performance,
with similar effect size. In Spain, banning mobile phones has been shown to increase students’ scores in
maths and science. Researchers also documented a decrease in incidences of bullying. In Norway,
banning phones significantly increased middle school students’ grade point average. It also increased
students’ likelihood of attending an academic high school rather than choosing a vocational school. And
it decreased incidents of bullying. Evidence from Belgium suggests banning mobile phones can be
2024 - DUE 5 August
2024
➢ Essay well written
➢ Ask for any help needed
, ENG2601 Assignment 3 2024 - DUE 5 August 2024
Banning mobile phones in schools can improve students’ academic performance. This is how we know.
Author: Louis-Philippe Beland Published: March 21, 2021, 8.49pm SAST The effects of mobiles phones
and other technology at school is a hotly debated topic in many countries. Some advocate for a complete
ban to limit distractions, while others suggest using technology as a teaching tool. Kids in public South
Australian primary schools started the school year without being allowed to bring their mobile phones to
class, unless they are needed for class activity. All students in public Western Australian Victorian, and
Tasmanian schools have a mobile phone ban in place since for all or some of 2020. New South Wales
also banned mobile phones in public primary schools, with secondary schools having the option to opt
in, since the start of 2020. Education departments have introduced the bans for various reasons
including to improve academic outcomes and decrease bullying. Several recent papers point to positive
impact of banning mobile phones at school on student performance and other outcomes. Understanding
the evidence is crucial for best policy. In a 2015 paper, we used a method — called a difference-in-
difference strategy — as well as student data from England to investigate the effect of banning mobile
phones on student performance. In this method, we compared schools that have had phones removed
to similar schools with no phone bans. This allowed us to isolate the effect of mobiles phones on student
performance from other factors that could affect performance. We found banning mobile phones at
school leads to an increase in student performance. Our results suggest that after schools banned
mobile phones, test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4% of a standard deviation. This is
equivalent to adding five days to the school year or an additional hour a week. The effects were twice as
large for low-achieving students, and we found no impact on high achieving students. 4 Our results
suggest low-performing students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones,
while high performing students can focus with or without mobile phones. The results of our paper
suggest banning mobile phones has considerable benefits including a reduction in the gap between high-
and low- achieving students. This is substantial improvement for a low-cost education policy. Other
studies show similar results. Recent studies from Spain and Norway, using a similar empirical strategy to
ours, also show compelling evidence on the benefit of banning mobile phones on student performance,
with similar effect size. In Spain, banning mobile phones has been shown to increase students’ scores in
maths and science. Researchers also documented a decrease in incidences of bullying. In Norway,
banning phones significantly increased middle school students’ grade point average. It also increased
students’ likelihood of attending an academic high school rather than choosing a vocational school. And
it decreased incidents of bullying. Evidence from Belgium suggests banning mobile phones can be
