EXCLUSIVE: Secondary teachers reveal how schools tackle mobiles as murdered teen's mum makes plea
With children returning to classrooms for the new academic year this month, fresh polling of nearly 6,000 secondary teachers gives an insight into how schools are tackling the issue
Nearly one in five secondary teachers reveal their school collects mobiles off pupils at the start of the day or they are put into special pouches.
With children returning to classrooms for the new academic year this month, fresh polling gives an insight into how schools are tackling the issue. One in 20 of the secondary teachers said mobile phones are not allowed on the grounds at all. And over half (56%) told how mobiles are not permitted to be used by pupils at all during the school day. It comes after the mum of murdered teen Brianna Ghey called for a statutory ban on smartphones in schools.
Esther Ghey, who has written to the government, said a ban would have given her daughter “a better chance at life”, the BBC reported earlier this month. Meanwhile, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warned earlier this year how smartphones had no place in schools. And, only this week, watchdog Ofsted’s head, Sir Martyn Oliver, said he would implement a blanket ban on smartphones were he to return to school leadership. The polling by TeacherTapp, which questioned nearly 6,000 secondary teachers in England, was carried out earlier this month [September 4].
They were given options and asked which most closely matches their school’s policy on mobile phones for students. Some 13% said mobiles were not allowed to be used by students at all during the day, unless directed by a teacher. And 18% said mobile phones are collected in or placed in pouches at the beginning of the day before being handed back at the end. One brand of pouch works by a phone being placed inside on arrival, with the device then locked. The pouch stays with the user and then can be unlocked by tapping it on a base.
Mark Lehain, executive headteacher at Wootton Academy Trust, in Bedford, explained how his upper school was tackling the issue. Sanctions for phone rule-breakers have been toughened as an interim measure at Wootton Upper School. The move comes while the school looks to implement a new policy which could involve phones being put in pouches or boxes. Mr Lehain described mobile phones as a “disaster for students”, saying: “One, it totally distracts them from their learning… Secondly, they’re a disaster in terms of safety because we know as teachers, the sector knows, kids if they access their phones during the day there’s horrible stuff being passed round, or there’s videos being taken and so on and so forth.”
Mr Lehain explained: “Currently, what we do is phones are never allowed out on site… in fact, they must be switched off and put at the bottom of their bags. And they’re never used in lessons, they’re never allowed to get them out. There are obviously only two exceptions to that. One is the tiny, tiny number of children that have medical needs for their mobile phones, like diabetics monitoring sugar levels… And the only other time a kid might get their phone out would be at the instruction of a teacher. Not in lessons, we don’t use them in lessons or anything like that.”
He added: “What we’re changing this year, off the back of some unbelievably horrific instances of bullying and abuse last year that we became aware of, we’re now increasing the sanctions if that is breached.” Mr Lehain explained it was an “interim step”, adding: “We know we need to get phones off the students during the day and that until we can do that, we’re not convinced our kids are as safe as need to be. But the logistics of making that change are pretty significant.”
He continued: “So we absolutely now intend to move to being a proper phone free school where the students don’t have their phones on them during the day. But we’re going to work with families, we’re going to work with students, we’re going to work with staff, to figure out the logistics of that.”
National Education Union General Secretary Daniel Kebede said: "Our research shows that having clear policies at a school-level can reduce screen time for young people and make it easier to stay engaged with learning. It is positive to see the number of secondary teachers who report phones cannot be used at all during the school day. It is important for all schools to have clear policies in place. Banning phones in schools will not resolve the issue entirely. Many of the issues our members are having to deal with in the classroom originate from content children are viewing online outside of school hours.”