Mobile phones ‘to be banned in school classrooms and playgrounds’

Mobile phones are to be banned in state schools, the education secretary is expected to announce today.

Gillian Keegan will reveal the policy at the Tory conference today, according to the Daily Mail.

Pupils won’t be allowed to use smartphones during lessons or breaks in a bid to empower teachers, a government source said.

The insider added that Keegan believes phones pose a challenge ‘in terms of distraction, disruptive behaviour and bullying’.

In 2018, officials estimated that 95% of schools had imposed phone restrictions.

The source said: ‘It is one of the biggest issues that children and teachers have to grapple with so she will set out a way forward to empower teachers to ban mobiles from classrooms.’

Government guidance recommends schools have rules on mobile phone usage.

It says: ‘Schools are allowed to stop pupils using their mobiles for all or part of the school day as part of their school rules.’

Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, said in a report published in July that letting children bring phones to school has its pros and cons.

But overall, phones can ‘disrupt learning in classrooms’ and banning them can help schoolchildren focus and protect them from cyberbullying.

‘Mere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to have a negative impact on learning in 14 countries,’ the agency said, citing data, ‘yet less than one in four have banned smartphone use in schools.’

High levels of screen time and a constant stream of notifications can have a negative impact on a child’s emotional stability.

Though Unesco said that when ‘appropriate’, mobile phones can be a key tool for distance learning to help reach youngsters from poorer backgrounds.

They added: ‘Mobile phones were also used to maintain individual support for families of children with disabilities during the pandemic.’

Policy-makers, the agency recommended, should not embrace headlong technology in classrooms, given how new tech often outpaces the research that scrutinises whether it’s a good thing for children.

The report said: ‘Not all change constitutes progress. Just because something can be done does not mean it should be done.’

While studies have suggested mobile phones be banned from classrooms and playgrounds, others recommend they not be taken away from children altogether.

The NSPCC recommends children who go out by themselves, such as walking to and from school, should ‘have access to a phone’ so they can call their parents or guardians in an emergency.

About one in four primary school pupils travel home alone, a 2013 study by the University of Westminster found.

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