The Tory Party is calling for a ban on phones in schools, after admitting guidance issued under former prime minister Rishi Sunak hasn’t worked.
The Conservatives are expected to push for MPs to be given a vote on banning the devices in schools this week, by attempting to amend Labour’s Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to include the ban.
The previous Conservative government issued non-statutory guidance to schools in England intended to stop the use of mobile phones during break and lunch periods in schools, as well as in lessons.
But on Sunday, shadow education secretary Laura Trott admitted the guidance “hasn’t worked”.
“Now it is time to make it law”, she said. “When I go into schools, headteachers are asking for this.
“When I go into schools which have these kinds of ban the pupils love it. They talk about how much safer it makes them feel.
“They talk about how they have the freedom to learn. They’re not under any pressure to be on their phones responding to apps.
“At a time when we are facing lots of challenges in our education system, introducing something which reduces distraction, encourages reading, helps with behaviour, for me, is an absolute no-brainer.”
While the education secretary has previously said smartphones have “no place” in schools, warning of the damage caused by social media and technology, it is understood that Labour has no plans to put in place an outright ban.
Bridget Phillipson told school and college leaders last week that they have the government’s “full backing” on removing disruptive phones from classrooms.
Addressing the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) in Liverpool, she said she had tasked officials to explore how to “more effectively monitor” what is happening in schools across England around the use of smartphones.
In her speech to around 1,000 school and college leaders on Friday, the education secretary said: “You know, we all know, that phones are disruptive, distracting, bad for behaviour. They have no place in our schools.
“And the government’s position is clear, you have our full backing in ridding our classrooms of the disruption of phones.”
She admitted phones can be “a driver of poor behaviour” within classrooms and called on school leaders to enforce existing guidance on phones.
“The Conservatives brought in this policy, I think it was the right approach to take, what we need to ensure is that it’s being enforced right across the country, in every classroom,” Ms Phillipson said.
“So we’ll be looking into what more data we need to gather in order to identify if it’s not happening, what more schools need to do to take action.”
A government spokesperson said: “Mobile phones are a distraction from learning which is why our clear guidance sets out that school leaders should be restricting their use.
“Around 97 per cent of schools restrict mobile phone use in some way, while headteachers also have the ability to implement complete bans, with many choosing to exercise this right.”
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