In general educators at the International School of Helsinki are fairly relaxed about how students - particularly older ones - use their smartphones on the school premises. However other teachers say that smartphones may be disruptive in class.

"It takes focus off the work that they're supposed to be doing in class. But if the student didn't bring their laptop or if the laptop is malfunctioning the phone can serve the student instead of a laptop," said ISH teacher Antti Turkki.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of the students interviewed don't see their phones getting in the way of class work.

"Really I don't mind, because the beauty about cellphones is that you can be on your cellphone distracting yourself and at the same time you're not distracting someone else," observed senior Joakin Merino.

Merino's peer, Sami Harju agreed that today's smartphones are as useful as their large cousins for quickly accessing information.

"It's a really quick and easy source of information so if you need to find a simple fact or something or a math equation it's in your pocket, so it's really quick," he noted.

However literature and film teacher Mark Kilmer pointed out that many teachers aren't keen about competing with technology in the classroom.

"It really challenged teachers because they weren't used to students having a distraction and a source of information that was separate from the teacher. And it's been a real adjustment for teachers to work out how to make that work," Kilmer remarked.

All the same, he said that he hasn't banned the use of smartphones in his classes.

"I strongly encourage it. In fact, one of the life skills that everybody has to learn is how to manage their cellphones. Adults have to learn when to ignore it, when to use it, how to stay in contact with people when they're in another setting. These are skills that everybody has to learn so that's something we can teach in school," he concluded.

Reporting by: Emil Candullo, Miikka Myllylä, Elisabeth Sovik.