Government announces ban on mobile phones in schools

[noblegiraffe]

...because it won't cost them anything and there won't be any pushback because the vast majority of schools banned phones years ago.

Perhaps they could also ban kids running in corridors or pushing in the lunch queue.

What a waste of time government this is.

(by 'banning phones' it's generally accepted to mean kids can have them in their bags but they must be turned off or at least on silent and never seen - so any parental cries of 'but they need them for the journey home' are irrelevant.)

We have more than enough to do already without adding more AND adding the safeguarding issues caused by unchecked mobile phone use into the mix.

They're too busy filming TikToks or videoing girls either by coercion or force, largely.

That's why they're hated in schools. They're tools for sexual abuse and violence.

Different problems, get a grip

But you don't work in a school and therefore have no idea.

“Mobile technology is the future and should be taught in every lesson”. Shusshhhhhahhahhahahhahhahahahah most adults in tech want their kids off the bloody things.
My parent in their 70s can use mobile banking and every other useful app quite easily.
We had dumb phones when I was at uni, all managed to get a decent degree and use an ATM ok!
Smart phones are easy to use, more time in a library would be better not more time on bloody Tiktok.

I don't work in a school, no, but I see very clearly what the most intelligent and academic kids that pop out at the end of it are capable of. Even without that insight, I'm entitled to my opinion.

But you are also falling for the old 'kids don't know how to do this therefore it should be taught in schools' thing. Half the time those things are taught in schools, and the other half of the time it would just need to be added to the massive long list of things that people should be taught in schools that we really don't have time for because we also have to teach them English and maths and so on.

Other people, including their parents, at some point have to step up and take responsibility.

Don't you think it's wrong that children need expensive devices in order to go to school? Many parents find buying uniform expensive enough without having to spend hundreds of pounds a year on a phone for use in school.

Exactly, @noblegiraffe . It's such a common thing on here. I think it's because some people haven't been in school for such a long time and don't realise what goes on, or they haven't engaged with what their secondary school children are learning. They've never seen ICT suites, perhaps.

Absolutely. They don't need a phone at all for learning.

They shouldn't need devices for school. I agree. But schools are woefully underresourced. AQA keep talking about moving exams to being digital we only have capacity for just over half of one year group to be in a computer suite at any one time. It takes 20 minutes to log on in some rooms. Our tech needs replacing completely but there's no money.

All by the by thought. We don't have open access to phones.

This.

DC school can't decide on a policy one minute banning them next insisting they use them in class.

DD2 has load of education apps - and is competing with friends so they are getting or language practise though it at minute- also uses it for timetable but a ban wouldn't really have a massive effect - she'd so it outside school or find another way.

If schools want to do this - fair enough but central government getting involve looks like desperate electioneering.

I've not heard from our school about this.

For year 7 to 11 phones can't be seen once in school but in reality school asks them to use their phones to look something up or to use an app because it's cheaper than providing textbooks and photocopying. I can't see this changing unless central government is providing textbooks and money for photocopying

Really do not what is the harm with the banning? I do not think people would be voting for Tories a result of this decision either. That is what is desperate to suggest.

Surely schools do not rely on children having a phone for lessons? What about if your parents do not let you have one?

We don't let them use them at all, so there's no problem. There's never an occasion where it's necessary in any lesson. Silent in their bag? Fine.

Surely schools do not rely on children having a phone for lessons? What about if your parents do not let you have one?

You team up with someone who has one - which my DC have done with friends who didn't - however not sure they rely on that regularly but odd lesson there does seem to have been an expectation that enough had them.

It's certainly not unworkable to just ban them - i.e. have them switched off in bags - as many schools already do that.

The ‘ideas’ coming out of the Tory conference are tired, knackered concepts with very little basis in fact or reality that are designed to appeal to right wing voters of a certain age who DGAF about actual problems plaguing schools. After the initial flurry about stories about RAAC, where is the outrage now? And what about the other concrete found to be desperately unsafe, HAAC? Found in yet more schools and hospitals? Tumbleweed. The apparently silent ride of Covid cases in schools as I sit on my sofa sick with it is also being ignored.

Our school asks students to use mobiles at times for research, topic quizzes and other educational uses. The students enjoy it and are often very engaged. I don't understand why the government doesn't let each school decide for themselves. It's almost as if they don't trust schools or teachers!
Utter stupidity.

This is such a pointless thread. Of course the government has announced something just for headlines. All governments do.

Anyone old enough will remember the Blair and Brown governments’ mania for bogus policy announcements; policy that was either redundant, never intended to be implemented or a repeat of a previous announcement.

Since these threads are always anti-Tory, perhaps we could have some acknowledgement - even if through gritted teeth - that it’s not especially a Tory habit to ‘spin’ things. ‘Spin’, now where did that technique come from, Mr Mandelson?

I'm not sure what the point would be of discussing Classic Spin Politics of the 90s at this point.

What many posters are exhausted with is a government that is failing to address any of the massive service issues that are afflicting our public services, but instead putting out a series of pointless policies that are meaningless and deliver nothing but the warm flush of pleasure to their core voters. The country is on its knees and they're pulling this shit.

Since these threads are always anti-Tory

If so - and they’re anti-stupidity rather than anti-Tory - it might be because there’s been a Conservative (or Coalition) government since 2010. Blair and Brown were a long time ago. Mentioning them is simple deflection.

We might all be cheered up by a thread to celebrate the positive effects on education successive recent Conservative governments have had. Someone ought to start one, perhaps.

I don't know a lot about school budgeting, but when schools can't afford textbooks something has gone very wrong!

Schools can't afford learning materials, repairs, adequate staffing, SEN support, play equipment...

Since the Blair and Brown governments were the last since Tory or Tory-dominated governments, they’re all that can be compared!

It’s hardly deflection to remember (relatively recent) previous governments.

Is it ok to claim successes for the most recent Labour governments but not ok to refer to their failures and less attractive behaviour?

Since these threads are always anti-Tory

What threads? Threads complaining about shit government policy will of course be anti Tory.

Threads complaining about education policy aren't restricted to the Tories though. Look at the most recent ones about VAT on school fees.