From Paradox to Potential: Students’ Mobile Phones Can Support Learning

From Paradox to Potential: Students’ Mobile Phones Can Support Learning

In recent days, numerous media outlets have reported that an increasing number of countries are banning students’ mobile phones in schools. Much has been said about the negative effects, but little about an undeniable reality – in all those countries, students have access to school-provided digital devices (tablets or laptops) that they actively use for teaching and learning, both at school and at home.

The availability of digital devices during classes enables teachers of all subjects to integrate technology into the teaching and learning process in a way that ensures its responsible, purposeful, and controlled use for educational purposes. Such an environment allows digital technology to become not just an addition, but genuine support for developing students’ critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.

In our country, the availability of school digital devices outside computer science classrooms varies significantly. Some local governments have recognized the importance of strengthening infrastructure and have donated mobile devices, most often tablets, for students to use both in school and at home. However, most schools still lack the conditions needed to support teaching that integrates technology across different subjects. Therefore, the potential of students’ personal digital devices as learning resources should not be overlooked. When a school does not have enough school-owned devices, guided and controlled use of personal devices can make a significant contribution to the development of students’ digital competences and provide valuable support for teaching and learning.

Students’ personal digital devices in school should be used exclusively in ways that have a positive impact on learning outcomes. Teachers play a key role in this process. It is their responsibility to clearly communicate to students when, how, and for what purposes digital devices should be used during lessons. At the same time, schools that prohibit the use of personal devices during class but do not have enough school-owned devices fail to fully comply with the provisions of the Law on the Foundations of the Education System of the Republic of Serbia.

The Republic of Serbia participated in the ICILS 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study for eighth-grade students. One of the study instruments was a teacher questionnaire administered to teachers of sampled classes. The teacher sample was representative, and the questionnaire was completed by 2,224 teachers from 154 schools. Teachers of all compulsory subjects participated:

• Serbian language and literature (10%)
• Foreign languages (14%)
• Mathematics (9%)
• Natural sciences – physics, chemistry, biology (17%)
• Social sciences – history, geography, civic education (13%)
• Arts – visual arts and music (11%)
• Computer science (8%)
• Technology and engineering (9%)
• Physical and health education (9%)

Analysis of the questionnaire data showed that teachers in Serbia use ICT in all stages of the teaching process (preparation, implementation, and evaluation) to a lesser extent than the international average and the reference education systems – the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, and Romania.

Teachers in Serbia demonstrate high self-efficacy in basic ICT activities such as finding and evaluating teaching resources, creating presentations, and assessing students (through the e-Diary system). However, their self-efficacy is significantly lower in areas such as collaboration in digital environments, the use of learning management systems, and the creation of digital assessments.

This opens an important question: Could the usage of students’ personal digital devices during lessons help change this picture?

Allowing the use of students’ personal devices for learning purposes creates new opportunities for the development of digital pedagogy and for empowering teachers to design interactive, modern, and student-centered lessons. Such a scenario requires clear school-level policies — rules, guidelines, and a culture of trust — to ensure safe and constructive use of technology. Instead of a restrictive approach, schools need a pedagogical strategy that directs the use of students’ personal devices toward learning. Hybrid teaching models, digital inquiry activities, teamwork in online classrooms, and the development of media and information literacy are just some of the real possibilities for our students. In this context, every inclusion of a mobile phone or tablet in the classroom gains a clear educational purpose.

Digital technology by itself does not create quality learning — quite the opposite. Only teachers who know how to integrate it effectively can achieve that. Therefore, the question of using students’ personal digital devices in schools goes beyond technical or disciplinary issues. It reflects a school’s digital maturity, showing its commitment to developing responsible, thoughtful, and digitally competent young people.

Whether schools will recognize this opportunity depends on how ready they are to connect rather than separate technology and pedagogy, policies and needs, teachers and students.

On this topic, Katarina Aleksić, Head of Education Technology Center at the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation (IEQE), spoke on RTS – Beogradska hronika on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

Suggested reading:

Guidelines for the Use of Mobile Phones, Electronic Devices, and Other Equipment