The evolution of mobile phones in the world has been explosive since the first call was made from the first mobile phone in 1973 [Holguin, 2020]. Today, recent studies on mobile technology show that its use has been actively intensifying [Ally et al., 2014; INE, 2021] and that this phenomenon will continue to grow. The main uses of these mobile devices are far from just making phone calls. Today, this evolution has meant that mobile phones can perform a huge number of simultaneous functions, boosted by the momentum and reach of the Internet, as well as the development of countless applications and the use of social networks. 

While this is not a new phenomenon, the truth is that with the Covid-19 pandemic the use of mobile devices has only grown, especially among the younger population. According to the recent report by Common Sense [ 2021], the use of mobile phones by children aged 12 to 18 has increased by 17% since the pandemic began, and much more among adolescents (13 to 18 years). In the case of Spain, the most recent data states that Internet use is practically universal (99.7%) among people aged 16 to 24 and that 68.7% [INE, 2021] of children aged 10 to 15 have a mobile phone. 

Unlike other digital technologies, such as personal computers or laptops, which have been introduced and promoted as useful tools for learning and for the personal and professional development of students in the near future, mobile phones today pose a challenge when it comes to integrating them into the classroom [Calderón-Garrido et al., 2022]. While their ubiquity, their socialising function and their role in the development of digital skills are recognised, there is a clear fear that smartphones, due to their individualised and difficult to control usage, generate social inequalities and distractions that undermine the efforts of teachers [Selwyn et al., 2017). 

In Spain, the lack of consensus on the issue at hand is also observed in the different political stances of the autonomous communities. Mellado-Moreno  et al [2022] refers to the existence of three different discourses. While the communities of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia have opted for prohibition, other autonomous communities have softened their positions, such as the Valencian Community and Aragon. Catalonia, on the other hand, through the mòbils.edu plan is committed to promoting the use of mobile devices as a strategic educational tool for curriculum development, competence work, inclusive education, tutorial action and the management of coexistence and human relations to promote educational success [Mellado-Moreno et al., 2022].

In this context, the project "US'MOV: Young people and mobiles in the classroom. Discourses and dynamics of prohibition, promotion and indeterminacy" came about, and whose main objective was to identify and analyse the discourses, practices and positions of educational administrations, teachers, young people, families and companies in the sector on the use of mobile phones in compulsory secondary schools in Spain. Ten case studies were conducted in compulsory secondary schools in four autonomous communities in Spain (Catalonia, Valencia, Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha)

In the case of Catalonia, the fieldwork was carried out in three schools in the province of Barcelona and one in the province of Girona. This article presents the results of the three cases developed in secondary schools in the province of Barcelona (two public and one state-subsidised) that, in the first instance, were positioned as centres in favour of the use of mobile phones in the classroom and that had an explicit commitment to include mobile technology to promote learning processes and access to knowledge.

The main research questions addressed in this article are: (1) Is there any promotion of the pedagogical or educational use of mobile phones in the classrooms of the schools analysed in the province of Barcelona? (2) Is there congruence between the schools' policies and regulations on the use of mobile phones (Discourses) and the practices carried out by teachers (Practices)? This communication is the result of a qualitative research based on the development of three case studies (descriptive-interpretative) carried out in secondary schools in Barcelona, in which, according to [Yin, 2018], a contemporary phenomenon (the “case”) is investigated in depth and within its real-world context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context may not be clearly evident. The process of designing the research instruments was based on collaborative work among the project participants. The starting point was the general research objectives and the specific objectives of each phase of its development. From there, the initial dimensions of analysis were defined and agreed upon by all members of the team, integrating the various contexts of implementation of policies and regulations (meso/institutional and micro/classroom). Subsequently, indicators were designed for each dimension to account for all the aspects to be investigated in the case studies, and these were specified in a matrix of dimensions and base indicators to elaborate the relevant items for each research instrument. The design of the instruments contemplated the integration of various sources of information, which allowed us to include the voices of the main educational agents in the case studies (Table 2) in order to subsequently carry out a triangulation of both sources of information and instruments and techniques for collecting information. In this sense, the items of each instrument were designed and adapted for each of the agents or sources of information: management team, teachers and students. The data analysis was conducted by means of a content analysis understood as the set of techniques of analysis of the communications tending to obtain indicators (quantitative or not) by systematic and objective procedures of description of the content of the messages, allowing the inference of knowledge relative to the conditions of production/reception (social context) of these messages [Andreu, 2002].

The conclusions have been organised in order to answer the two main questions posed in the introduction and which have guided the development of this article. 1)About the first question: We can affirm that even though the schools were initially selected based on their explicit stance in favour of the use of technology and mobile phones, which can be found in their regulations, we can conclude that there is no clear attitude to promote the use of these devices, largely due to the uncertainties generated by their management with the pupils, and because it is considered to be a distracting element in the classroom. In fact, their use is limited to certain sporadic pedagogical actions, which are not systematic and are not reflected in the curriculum or the teachers’ continuous educational planning. It is also observed that the mobile phone has been losing prominence in the classroom. Schools tend to prohibit the use of mobile phones and prefer computers to work with digital platforms and media. 2) About the second question. In the development of this research, we have been able to appreciate that there is a gap between (1) what is established in the autonomous regulations of Catalonia and in the guidelines of the schools themselves, and (2) what happens concretely in teaching practice. From our initial hypothesis, which stated that there was a promotion of the use of mobile phones in schools supported by regional policies and their regulation, we see that, in reality, what generally exists is a ban on the use of mobile phones. On the other hand, their use is only promoted when a pedagogical objective is defined by the teaching staff, which is something unusual in the development of teaching practices.

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