Queensland's mobile phone policy in schools gives students an advantage over their interstate counterparts, according to a leading academic.
Griffith University education lecturer Jason Zagami said allowing students access to phones in schools prepared them for real-world experiences.
"We need to move towards teaching students how to effectively and appropriately use the technology because of all the advantages that can be gained from them," he said.
"Having those devices available and not using them is not an advantage to education."
Queensland public school principals have the freedom to decide mobile phone policy, ranging from a blanket ban to full classroom access.
Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia have banned devices in high schools.
Bans are being implemented in South Australia and the Northern Territory and NSW Labor has announced it will follow suit if it wins the state election next month.
No plans to change
Queensland's Education Department said it had no plans to change its approach, despite a national trend to restrict phones in schools.
A taskforce created in 2018 to combat cyberbullying found that principals were best placed to make decisions about the use of mobile phones in their schools, a Queensland Education department spokesperson said.
"The taskforce consulted with a diverse range of stakeholders, including young people, their families, and academic experts from a range of fields," the spokesperson said.
Education Minister Grace Grace said principals, in collaboration with the school community, were best placed to make decisions about the use of phones in their schools.
"Under this policy, principals that take the decision to ban mobile phones in their classrooms — and many have — are fully supported to do so," she said.
Dr Zagami has been conducting a review of mobile phone policies in schools in Australia and expected to deliver a suite of recommendations to educators by the end of the year.
"The bans are not going to be sustainable," he said.
"As soon as students start wearing smartwatches, that will start challenging the bans and with each challenge, it creates another chink in the armour of such enforcement."
'No tolerance policy'
Dr Zagami said he believed the trend towards banning phones in schools was coming from tensions at home.
"Most of the issues I see are coming more from parental frustration in their own ability to manage [the use of] devices of technology at home."
Gold Coast private school All Saints Anglican School has a no-tolerance policy on mobile phones.
"It might seem a little draconian, but actually, we don't allow them at any year level in the school," headmaster Patrick Wallas said.
"In junior school, they hand them into the office as they arrive in the morning and in middle school, they hand them to their class teacher."
Mr Wallas said the rules were slightly more relaxed for senior students.
"In senior school, they [mobile phones] need to be kept in their lockers. [Students] can make a phone call standing by their locker at morning tea or lunch.
"But no phones are allowed outside those areas."
