Last week the Department for Education unveiled new guidance for schools urging them to prohibit the use of mobile phones throughout the school day.
It’s advice that I would wholeheartedly endorse. Given that I am a DfE behaviour adviser, that may not sound surprising.
However, it’s a policy that I’ve been using in schools since the 2000s, when I first became a headteacher. At that time smaller, cheaper devices that were more accessible to pupils began appearing in schools, causing all manner of problems.
Problems with mobile phones in schools
Back then mobile phones would often be used to communicate problems to peers and family, which meant that at the end of the school day older young adults would congregate outside the school to “settle” what was often a minor issue that should have been resolved with appropriate adult intervention.
Later, the introduction of cameras on mobile phones started to create safeguarding risks for students and staff. Then the smartphone came along and the risks and concerns exploded, not least because of the rise of social media.
More on the debate about phones in schools:
This also meant that students were often bringing very expensive phones to school and, inevitably, some were stolen. Younger pupils, in particular, were targeted by gangs outside school who stole their phones.
Despite these growing concerns about students bringing phones to school, there have been numerous calls for schools to embrace the benefits of these devices and let pupils bring them as they wish.
A straightforward approach
I can understand this, up to a point - mobile phones are obviously useful in certain circumstances, and we have made provisions, in the schools I have worked in, for those children who are at risk or who have special educational needs that mean they need to have phone contact with parents, responsible authorities or to arrange transportation when required.
Otherwise, however, we have always maintained a total ban on the devices in school.
As a headteacher, I simply instituted a total ban, with confiscation being the outcome if mobile phones were seen or heard in school at any time. Within our trust some schools operate a handing-in policy but with the same expectation that these devices have to be kept out of sight at all times.
This approach has made the schools I have worked in outliers, with many other schools attempting more nuanced strategies, such as allowing devices in break times or only confiscating them if they are used in lessons.
But, to me, anything other than a blanket ban during school hours invites behaviour that can lead to significant concerns for young people.
This ranges from the relatively benign but insidious “heads down” sharing of social media posts when children should be socially interacting and active during breaks to more concerning behaviour, such as recording others without consent, social media bullying, sharing inappropriate images and the propagation of influencer misinformation.
Parent support
Of course, over the past 24 years many other schools have now come to the same realisation and adopt a similar approach.
In my experience, the vast majority of parents support a clear line from schools and welcome the new guidance. Most find it extremely difficult to manage their children’s phone use, so any initiative to limit that use is helpful to them.
However, many schools are still struggling with behaviour issues caused by phones.
This is why I hope the new guidance will empower them to take a firmer line on the problems that phones can cause and adopt a more consistent approach that helps them to take back control - just as I did almost a quarter of a century ago.
Mark Emmerson is CEO of the City of London Academies Trust and a Department for Education behaviour adviser
