OECD pupils: where phones are banned at school, 50% use one there every day; where they are not, 63%
34% of 15-year-olds attend schools with a ban. Their maths is not higher: 3 points lower after socio-economic adjustment. Country by country the gap is significant in 15 of 78: lower in 9, higher in 6.
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Principals were asked whether phones are banned at school, pupils how often they use a smartphone there. A ban lowers use but does not remove it: in schools with a ban half use one every day.
Each bar: the share of pupils who use a smartphone at school every day or several times a day, in schools with and without a ban. OECD average.
- OECD average: use a smartphone at school every day — ban / no ban % of students
50.1 / 63
OECD: PISA 2022, Volume II (device questionnaire) · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- OECD average: attend schools that ban phones % of students
33.6
OECD: PISA 2022, Volume II (device questionnaire) · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- OECD average: maths, schools with a ban vs others points
−6.7; adjusted −3
OECD: PISA 2022, Volume II (device questionnaire) · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
OECD PISA 2022, Volume II, tables II.B1.5.35, II.B1.5.38 and II.B1.5.39. Never use one: 16% with a ban, 8% without. Score gap: −6.7 unadjusted, −3 after socio-economic adjustment (S.E. 1).
Different schools adopt bans for different reasons, and the comparison does not show whether a ban helps or harms. The principal reports the ban, the pupil the use. One year; in Greece almost every school has a ban, in Finland under a tenth.
A question for this picture
How many pupils get distracted by their own devices in class?