A Labour MP will this week attempt to make a ban on phones during the school day compulsory.
Josh MacAlister, the new MP for Whitehaven and Workington in Cumbria, will table a private member’s bill in the House of Commons that would, among other things, put the government’s guidance on mobile phones in schools on a statutory footing.
The current non-statutory guidance, released in February, tells schools to have a mobile phone policy “that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime”.
Placing the guidance on a statutory footing would mean schools would have a legal duty to follow it.
A Department for Education survey in December found 93 per cent of primary schools had restrictions on mobile phones, with 20 per cent banning them from site completely and 72 per cent making pupils leave them in a secure place.
Sixty-six per cent of secondary schools said they let pupils bring phones to school but do not permit their use, while 6 per cent ban them from site and 3 per cent lock them away.
But 13 per cent of respondents said pupils were allowed to use phones in lessons with permission and 9 per cent allow their use at break and lunch.
Last government stopped short of statutory guidance
The previous government was mocked last year after education secretary Gillian Keegan announced plans to make “all schools” ban phones, but stopped short of making the guidance statutory.
The DfE said at the time it would consider legislating for a compulsory ban if the non-statutory guidance was not followed.
MacAlister’s bill, which will only succeed if it gets government support, also seeks to raise the age of “internet adulthood” from 13 to 16.
This would raise the age at which companies can get data consent from children without parental permission, and “make it harder for companies to push addictive content to children”.
The draft law would also strengthen Ofcom’s powers with a specific mandate to protect children’s interests and new powers to enforce a code of conduct.
Government would also have to review further regulation if needed “of the design, supply, marketing and use of mobile phones by children under 16”.
‘Widespread harm’
MacAlister, a Teach First alumnus who founded the social care training scheme Frontline and led the last government’s review of children’s social care, said the “evidence is mounting that children doom scrolling for hours a day is causing widespread harm”.
“We need the equivalent of the ‘seatbelt’ legislation for social media use for children.”
The bill has several high-profile backers, including former education secretary Kit Malthouse, education committee chair Helen Hayes, children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza and unions ASCL and the NEU.
However, the government has not yet said whether it will support the bill, which would mean all Labour MPs being encouraged to vote for it.
ASCL previously described the last government’s proposed mobile phone ban as a “non-policy for a non-problem”.
ASCL welcomes ‘far more comprehensive’ approach
Pepe Di’Iasio, the union’s general secretary, said ASCL wanted “action at a governmental level to regulate social media and protect children from the damaging material spread via these platforms. This bill represents a step towards this.
“The majority of schools already have a policy in place to restrict the use of mobile phones, and this was the case before the non-statutory guidance was issued.
“If this guidance is made statutory, it’s important that it retains the flexibility that allows schools to implement a mobile phone policy that works in their setting.”
He said previous governments “have tended to focus exclusively on the use of phones in schools, despite the fact that the majority of the time young people spend online is outside the school gates”.
“This bill is far more comprehensive and it’s time the government gave serious thought to how better regulation in this area can protect the wellbeing of children and young people.”
