The children’s commissioner has told MPs she would like to use her statutory powers to check how every school in the country approaches the issue of mobile phones, following the government’s latest guidance.
Dame Rachel de Souza told the Commons Education Select Committee today that although her “gut feeling” is that most schools restrict mobile phone use, she would like to get a national picture.
“I think it is great at school to have a mobile-free zone. I think most headteachers do that,” said the children’s commissioner, who previously worked as a headteacher and chief executive of a multi-academy trust.
“One of the pieces of work I would like to do is to actually use my statutory powers to check every school in the country to see who is and who is not. I do not think we have got a clear picture. My gut feeling is that most do restrict mobile phone use.”
Her comments come after the Department for Education recommended that schools prohibit pupils’ use of mobile phones in guidance published this week.
However, the non-statutory guidance, which was published following an announcement at the Conservative Party conference last year by the education secretary Gillian Keegan, has been described as a “non-policy for a non-problem” by Geoff Barton, the Association of School and College Leaders’ general secretary.
Appearing before a committee session on screen time and its impact on education and wellbeing, Dame Rachel also highlighted the importance of teaching relationships and sex education (RSE) in schools.
“I really want that RSE curriculum to deal with what children see online and these issues,” the children’s commissioner told MPs.
She expressed concerns that “kids are getting their sex education from TikTok” and said that headteachers’ focus should be on health education and teaching children how to keep safe online.
“We have been in all sorts of debates about what should be in the curriculum but actually, basic health education and basic ‘how to keep yourself safe online’ - those things are what, as a headteacher, I would think was absolutely something I should be doing,” Dame Rachel added.
The DfE appointed an expert panel to review RSE and the health education curriculum last year. The government said advice from this group would inform changes to statutory guidance on RSE.
Last year, the government said new statutory guidance would be completed by the end of the year, in response to “disturbing reports that inappropriate material is being taught in some schools”. Updated guidance has yet to be published.
Dame Rachel said today that headteachers tell her they are “not sure what the guidance says”.
“We need to be giving them a really strong supportive guidance to be doing this work,” she added.
More to be done on Online Safety Bill awareness
MPs also heard from Jessica Edwards, senior policy adviser on childhood harms at Barnardo’s; David Wright, director at the UK Safer Internet Centre; and Ian Critchley, lead on child protection at the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
The evidence session comes after the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey led to calls for stricter regulation of mobile devices in schools.
Mr Wright told MPs that there was more work to be done to make children and parents aware of the Online Safety Bill, a set of laws that will place new duties on social media companies.
He suggested that the government should work with schools to make sure everyone understands the bill, possibly in the form of a “school pack”.
