Banning phones in schools should be a decision for head teachers and not “imposed nationally by the government”, England’s children’s commissioner has said. Nine in ten secondary schools restrict the use of smartphones, according to a survey of 19,000 schools and colleges commissioned by Dame Rachel de Souza.
Dame Rachel said children were racking up hours of screen time at home instead, and that parents needed more help managing their children’s online habits. Her comments come as the general secretary of the UK’s largest teaching union said a government ban on phones would “take the pressure off schools”.
Dame Rachel’s survey suggests 99.8% of primary and 90% of secondary schools limit pupils’ use of phones during the school day. Most primary schools (76%) require pupils to hand in their phones or leave them in a secure place during the day, whereas most secondary schools (79%) say phones must be kept out of sight and not used.
A separate survey of 502 eight to 15-year-olds, also commissioned by Dame Rachel, suggests: 69% of children spend more than two hours a day on a device, 23% spend more than four hours a day.
“Children are not spending these hours on their phones while sat in school, it goes much wider than that,” Dame Rachel said in a new report.
The government said social media platforms already have to take down illegal material under the Online Safety Act, and the same law would soon protect children from other harmful online content, including misogyny and violence. There is also already guidance on how schools can restrict the use of phones, which head teachers can decide how to put into practice.
But the National Education Union said a government ban on smartphones in schools would “assist parents, but also take the pressure off schools”, and the UK should consider following Australia’s steps with a social media ban for under-16s.
Dame Rachel said parents and carers “need to be supported in managing their children’s online activities and setting appropriate boundaries”, and technology companies must “take responsibility for making the online world safe by design”. Schools should “continue to have clear policies on phone use” and also educate young people about online risks.
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