Ministers to change mobile phones in schools guidance…again

Guidance on mobile phones in schools will be updated again next year to urge leaders to avoid “not seen, not heard” policies, ministers have announced.

The government has set out plans to further update guidance on the use of phones in schools from next September. However, the announcement only sets out an intention to change the guidance, with no specific wording forthcoming.

Ministers recently placed guidance – itself an update on previous advice – on the use of the devices on a statutory footing, giving school leaders a legal duty to have regard to the document when setting their policies.

The guidance, which schools have legally had to take into account since September, states schools “should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar…throughout the school day”.

However, the current guidance states that “there are a number of ways in which schools can ensure that they are mobile phone-free, and it is for headteachers to decide how best to achieve this within their own unique contexts”.

We’ll ‘make it clear’ next time, says DfE

In the new guidance, the Department for Education has said it “will make clear that schools should go beyond ‘not seen, not heard’ – where phones may remain in pupils’ bags – and adopt whole-school strategies that keep phones out of use and inaccessible throughout the school day”.

This will not be a legal requirement, however, with schools only encouraged to stop the practice.

The DfE also did not provide, when asked, the wording it would include in the new guidance.

The announcement was timed to meet the deadline of national print newspapers.

Education secretary Lucy Powell said: “Children should not be using smartphones at any point during the school day, full stop.

“That’s why we’re strengthening our guidance to take the next leap towards truly phone-free schools.”

She added: “Schools are already leading the way. We’re backing heads and teachers with a clear message for parents and pupils: school is for learning and friendship, not scrolling.

“Alongside our curriculum reforms, this is about making school unmissable – giving every child more chances to learn, connect and thrive.”

Phones ‘pulling away from learning’

It comes after the government announced at the weekend that it would put a renewed focus on key stage 3, discouraging schools from teaching to GCSE specifications from year 9.

However, teachers “will still retain the flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils or groups who are ready to go further without narrowing their options”.

Ministers are due to issue their final response to the government’s curriculum and assessment review. Draft programmes of study for individual subjects will follow.

Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, is also due to publish his final report on how to cut numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) next week.

Milburn’s interim report earlier this year found that during focus groups, “every one of a group of ten 12 and 13-year-olds told us they went to bed between midnight and three in the morning because they were scrolling on their phone”.

The government said tonight that “access to mobile phones risks pulling children away from their learning and from each other”.

“Schools should be a place that provides a clear break from those pressures, protecting the school day as a time to learn, connect and engage with others.

“While most schools set out that phones should be not seen and not heard, only 16 per cent of secondary pupils say phone rules are followed all of the time, and with the rapid increase in technology take-up and emerging evidence, pupils, schools and parents need more clarity.”

Guidance will ‘build on’ existing leadership

The DfE said some schools were “already putting stronger whole-school approaches into practice through lockable pouches, collection at the start of the day, secure storage or prohibiting phones onsite altogether.

“The strengthened guidance will build on this leadership, giving every school clearer backing to keep phones inaccessible and helping parents and pupils understand what a truly phone-free school day means.”

Existing guidance is already onerous for schools.

It states heads and other staff “can and should identify mobile phones and similar devices as something that may be searched for in their school behaviour policy.

“Staff should refer to the searching, screening and confiscation in schools guidance regarding searching a pupil.”

Give us cash for pouches, say heads

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT leaders’ union, said many schools “already have restrictions on phones, but going beyond a ‘not seen, not heard’ approach comes at a cost.

“If schools are to implement some of the more robust measures suggested in this guidance, they will need access to additional funding and support.”

ASCL leader Pepe Di’Iasio said schools “will need time to develop a new policy that works in their setting.

“If all schools are going to be expected to have lockable pouches or other secure storage facilities for every pupil, the cost involved will be very significant indeed.

“This is not feasible unless the government puts in the funding required to meet these costs.”

The DfE said revised statutory mobile phone guidance “will be implemented from September 2027, with schools encouraged to move sooner where possible”.