In Austria, there is no nationwide regulation for the use of mobile phones in schools. Guidelines from the education department or the educational directorates in the states would not be possible, as the ministry recently clarified its legal view. The decrees can only be a request because "the school partnership bodies are independent and cannot be instructed to include regulations in the house rules in a specific way." Therefore, the decision is still made in practice by the representatives of teaching staff, parents, and - for older students - students on site, even in states with their own regulations. Nevertheless, there have been calls for a general regulation in other states recently.

Parent Association Demands Focus on Basic Competencies

The compulsory school parent association also pushed on Tuesday for a general mobile phone ban in compulsory schools. The focus must finally be on acquiring basic competencies - reading comprehension, arithmetic, and writing - they demanded in a press release. In primary schools, computational thinking can be trained without digital devices using digi.case materials, and in secondary level 1, all young people already have a digital device through the device initiative. "An additional mobile phone is not needed in class," said Ilse Schmid from the Styrian compulsory school association. However, it is repeatedly indicated that students still need an internet-capable mobile phone for specific learning content or projects. This is a "financial imposition" and a problem for parents who deliberately do not give their children a mobile phone, criticized the parent representatives. In practice, parents then face the problem of getting children away from digital devices.

However, they do not wish for a general ban on bringing the devices into the school building. There needs to be a way to securely store the devices there. For many parents, the mobile phone provides the assurance that their children are safe on the way to school or have arrived safely at school. According to the ministry, a ban would not be possible anyway because mobile phones - unlike weapons, for example - are not items that inherently disrupt school operations.

Mobile Phone Rules in Schools

According to a non-representative survey by Bundesverlag Schulbuch (öbv) and Uni Linz (over 900 respondents), mobile phone use is already almost universally autonomously restricted. 53 percent reported a ban during lessons, and another 40 percent reported rules. Three-quarters would support a general mobile phone ban in schools.

Federal school spokesperson Mira Langhammer from the ÖVP-affiliated student union recently advocated for clear, site-agreed mobile phone rules at every school. She can imagine a ban in primary schools. In secondary level 1 (mainly middle school, lower secondary AHS), the regulation could be that mobile phones remain switched off in the school bag during the day unless they are incorporated into lessons by the teaching staff. At the same time, mobile phones should not be a taboo subject in schools, she emphasized.

(APA/Red.)

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