Once they return from the half-term break pupils at the Park School Primary School in Mortsel (Antwerp Province) will no longer be allowed to wear smartwatches at school. The school says that it has decided to ban smartwatch as children are distracted by messages sent to their smartwatches too often and this has an adverse impact on their concentration.
Home News
School bans smartwatches: “They distract children too much and that is bad for concentration”
Published:
As well as enabling you to tell the time a smartwatch also has a range of other functions. Messages can be sent to smartwatches from a multitude of apps. Some smartwatches can even be used to record video footage and/or take photographs. While this can all be very useful it can also be a distraction to pupils’ learning while they are in the classroom.
The Headteacher of the Parkschool Primary School Peter Lahousse told VRT News that "The children that have one of these watches often look at it to see whether they have received any messages. This distracts them and they are not always able to follow the lesson as well they might. Smartwatches also distract other children.
Keeping young children’s attention is not easy at the best of times and smartwatches provide further distractions.
Mr Lahousse told VRT News that "We have noticed that concentration is increasingly becoming an issue. The ban won’t resolve this, but it will help. The Headteacher says that recently more and more children have started wearing smartwatches. The children with smartwatches are in the 5th and 6th years (aged 10 to 12)".
The school has sent a letter to parents kindly requesting them to no longer send their children to school with smartwatches. “A smartphone is of course still allowed as it enables parents to stay in touch with their child”. Like at other school children at the Parkschool Primary School are of course not allowed to use their smartphone during lessons.