A ban on mobile phones in schools across the country is set to be introduced as part of a government amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Whilst many schools have already prohibited the use of smartphones under existing government guidance; the new legislation would replace these guidelines (which headteachers are currently able to ignore) with a statutory ban.
The move – which had previously been resisted by many ministers – was announced on Monday evening when the House of Lords voted through a Conservative amendment to the Bill. They voted by a majority of 107 to ban school pupils from using smartphones during the school day.
The exact details of the amended Bill have not yet been published but the proposal reportedly includes a potential ‘carve-out’ for sixth-formers, medical devices, and some boarding school settings.
Implementing a statutory ban on phones in schools will remove any ambiguity around how schools approach their smartphone policies. The ban is set to remove distraction, encourage a focus on learning, and help tackle bullying and social media abuse.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have been consistently clear that mobile phones have no place in schools, and the majority already prohibit them.
“This amendment makes existing guidance statutory, giving legal force to what schools are already doing in practice.
“It builds on the steps we’ve already taken to strengthen enforcement, with Ofted considering schools’ mobile phones policies as part of inspection from this month.
“We will always put children’s interests first, including through this Bill – which is widely considered as the biggest piece of child safeguarding legislation in decades, with critical measures like laws to crack down on profiteering in children’s social care and a new unique identifier to stop children falling through the cracks.”
