Mobile phone use at Tölz schools: sensible use instead of a ban

2022-03-17T15:53:31.305Z

Mobile phone use at Tölz schools: sensible use instead of a ban Created: 03/17/2022, 15:00 By: Felicitas Bogner Cell phones are banned from schools in Bavaria. This should be relaxed from August. © Roland Weihrauch Mobile phones have no place in schools in Bavaria at the moment. A change in the law can ease this from August. That's what school principals in the Tölzer Land say about it. Bad T

Mobile phone use at Tölz schools: sensible use instead of a ban

Created: 03/17/2022, 15:00

By: Felicitas Bogner

Cell phones are banned from schools in Bavaria.

This should be relaxed from August.

Mobile phones have no place in schools in Bavaria at the moment.

A change in the law can ease this from August.

That's what school principals in the Tölzer Land say about it.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

– The strict ban on mobile phones in schools in Bavaria, which previously also applied during breaks or at lunchtime, is to be relaxed from August.

From then on, schools should be able to decide for themselves whether the students are allowed to use their cell phones privately during breaks.

The Ministry of Education recently gave the amendment to the law to the educational associations for their comments.

Many schools in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen want to wait for a possible change in the law until they internally define individual mobile phone regulations.

Christoph Strödecke, headmaster of the Geretsried high school, is open to this freedom.

"Through homeschooling, we have integrated digital media even more into the lessons and learning and are very open to the topic of digitization and mobile phones," he says.

How the mobile phone can be used at his school after a possible relaxation during breaks, he cannot yet say definitively.

"As soon as we have more concrete information, the topic will be discussed in the parents' council, the students' council and among all teachers and a solution will be found accordingly."

Reason instead of bans in Hohenburg

Christoph Beck, Head of the St. Ursula High School in Hohenburg, agrees.

As a school, you can only act when the exact text of the change is available, but if you change the house rules, you should also talk to the parents, the teachers and the students, says the rector.

"So far we've tended to be reasonable and have tried to teach our girls how to use modern means of communication sensibly," he says.

Because: "We think this makes more sense than bans, which you may not be able to check at all, and we are convinced that we would find and implement a good agreement here too," emphasizes Beck.

The same applies to the St. Ursula girls' secondary school, emphasizes its acting principal, Barbara Fischer.

In general, according to Strödecke, it is also important when using mobile phones and tablets to communicate transparent rules and appropriate sanctions in the event of violations.

"Regardless of the planned easing, we are trying to teach our students how to use cell phones and the like properly," he says.

Pupils in the eighth grade learn this in a corresponding seminar.

"There, among other things, it is about copyright and all the key data on media use," explains Strödecke.

Max-Rill-School: "Promote meaningful use"

Alexander Göbel, headmaster of the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium in Tölz, also reports that there is no final solution to this question.

He also wants to wait for the more precise specifications from the Ministry of Education.

"We can only make decisions here when these are available, especially when the precise leeway is shown within which decisions are possible," says Göbel.

Carmen Mendez, rector of the Max-Rill-Gymnasium, has an additional challenge in this regard.

After all, her school is also a boarding school.

“We regulate where you can use it – and that's easy.

Always just outside of studying, classes and meals,” she says.

"In the lower grades, the mobile phone may also be put down during breaks, but we have a well-used offer anyway with the student café and moving break," reports Mendez.

"We are trying to promote sensible use and not to follow with bans on cell phone use, which is practiced anyway." The head of the boarding school is also aware of this: "It wouldn't make much sense on our site either." If you play your cell phone in class, you have to leave it at boarding school," Mendez said.