Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on news that the government intends to make existing guidance on mobile phone bans in schools statutory.
“A statutory ban on mobile phones in schools doesn’t really change very much. Most schools already have policies in place under which pupils are not permitted to use mobile phones.
“The most common approach is to require them to keep devices ‘off and away’ during the school day – with the challenge then being to ensure that these rules are followed.
“What would really be helpful is for the government to make funding available to schools for the safe and secure storage of mobile phones, such as storage lockers or locked pouches.
“We would also like to see much tougher regulatory action taken to tackle the harm caused by social media and the excessive use of smartphones – which generally happens outside of school time and is clearly having a profound and damaging effect on many young people.”