Texting under the desk could become a thing of the past (Picture: Getty)
The government has moved ahead with a pledge to ban mobile phones in schools.
The Department for Education has today published guidance which will ‘ensure consistency’ in classrooms across England.
Last year, at the Tory Party conference in October, education secretary Gillian Keegan pledged to bring forward changes forbidding mobile phone use in schools.
Recent research showed 29% of secondary school pupils had seen mobile phones being used when they weren’t supposed to.
The promise was met with scepticism, with the Association of School and College Leaders describing it as a ‘non-policy for a non-problem’.
It’s currently up to individual school headteachers in England to decide their own policies on mobile phones in schools.
Most schools already ban phone usage in classrooms (Picture: Getty)
The guidance, which is not legally enforced, tells headteachers how to ban the use of phones, not just during lessons but also during breaks and lunchtime.
Ms Keegan said it would provide ‘clarity and consistency’ for teachers and that there is currently ‘a large variation in how different schools are managing the use of mobile phones’.
She added: ‘Schools are places for children to learn and mobile phones are, at a minimum, an unwanted distraction in the classroom.
‘We are giving our hard-working teachers the tools to take action to help improve behaviour and to allow them to do what they do best – teach.’
Tom Bennet, who advises the Department for Education on behaviour, said: ‘Mobile phones may be ubiquitous, but we have a strong and growing understanding of how damaging they can be for a child’s social and educational development.
‘And it’s the least advantaged who suffer most. Many schools already have some kind of policy on phones, but this guidance provides a clear steer for everyone, including parents, about what’s right and what’s not for the wellbeing of the child.’
The Association of School and College Leaders called phone usage in schools a ‘non-issue’ (Picture: Getty)
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said it did not expect the new guidance to make any discernible impact, saying the ‘compulsive use’ of devices was not happening in schools but ‘while children are out of school’.
He added: ‘Most schools already forbid the use of mobile phones during the school day or allow their use only in limited and stipulated circumstances.
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‘We have lost count of the number of times that ministers have now announced a crackdown on mobile phones in schools. It is a non-policy for a non-problem.
‘The government would be far better off putting its energies into bringing to heel the online platforms via which children are able to access disturbing and extreme content.’
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