Ban on mobile phones in schools

[bytheby]

Gavin Williams has proposed this and announced a 6 week consultation. Does anyone know how we can feed into the consultation?

I am in favour. In fact I don't think children/teens need phones at all. If people are worried about safety walking home then there should be a simple phone with a map function and ability to call available.

I am a sensible adult and I find it difficult to control my own mobile phone use so how can we expect children to.

Children accessing porn. Children unable to 'switch off'/addicted to screens. Children being contacted by older strangers. Children having unrealistic images of how they 'should' look pushed onto them by social media. Children unable to escape school bullying (or just a break from their peers) at home. Children losing the ability to converse. Children more anxious than ever. etc etc.

If your childhood was pre mobile phones do you think it honestly would have been improved by having one?!

Anyway, if anyone knows how to become a part of the consultation please let me know! I have googled to no avail.

Given that for many of the children at my DC's school, their phone was the only way they could access remote learning during lockdown, I think not allowing children to have phones is a stupid idea. It's up to individual schools how they police phone use, at ours Y7-11 must have their phone off, if not it gets confiscated. Sixth form are allowed to have theirs on.

We managed for generations without phones in schools and our children can do it too!

There were payphones

Better go back to slate boards and chalk because they used to cope just fine that way!

And Gavin has got everything right with education so far.

I dont see why kids should have to use their phones to take a photo of their homework - surely taking appropriate notation in a planner is a skill that should be maintained?

We live in the 21st century.

I was a secondary school teacher for 25 years. Phones have been a massive learning aid. It’s much easier for children with learning difficulties to use phones than ‘appropriate notation’

I also found them useful if kids had to do research. The school laptops were 20 year old and didn’t work.

I understand that argument, but apart from a few instances (health monitoring for certain conditions SEN etc) phones are a distraction and not necessary for learning. I have experiences of one school that allows phones (supposedly turned off but realistically they’re not, kids will sneak them into class, check them under tables, listen to music via wireless headphones etc etc) and also experience of one that doesn’t. I prefer the ban on phones, and the school have found a workaround (the pouch I explained earlier) that means kids still have their phones while on the bus etc. It eliminates the showing of social media posts, porn etc during the school day. I can’t see why any parent would not want their kids school to take this option, we are all too reliant on phones and kids not having access for 6 hours a day can only be a good thing IMO.

I'm 29 now and while I was in school, we were never allowed mobile phones in school due to safeguarding. I am from the country so lots of would have been living in rural areas, so the school did facilitate admin staff taking them and putting them somewhere safe through the day in case a pupil needed to phone home should they have missed the bus etc. And back then we did not have smart phones.
For children with learning difficulties, they were allowed to have a laptop to do their work on if they struggled with writing.

@SoupDragon

Using them as a calculator or research tool - again, why? Buy and carry a calculator (which can only be used for it's intended use) and are text books not a thing any more?

A calculator??! Use a log book and slide rule like my parents did! They never had calculators and it was fine for them. Or an abacus.

Bring back mental arithmetic! The average child wouldn't have a clue how to add up quickly in their head these days. It always amuses me when I give a cashier an amount when I am paying which facilitates them giving me a round amount of change, e.g. 50p or £1, instead of coppers. They are literally bemused and haven't an idea what you are doing!

We managed for generations without phones in schools and our children can do it too!

We also managed without calculators and online textbooks.

We can't take any of these things away now because there is no longer an alternative.

@AttaGirrrrl

I’m a teacher and always post the PowerPoint of the lesson on classroom. It makes sense that the students have it to refer back to for revision etc.

When I was at university for my BA, I was given a dictaphone to record the sessions as I have a learning disability. By the time I was in MA classes, the lectures were recorded as a standard and put on our classroom.

There are ways around these issues.

We managed for generations without phones in schools and our children can do it too!

I grew up without a mobile too - but we had pay phones in town and at school, and at places like train stations and taxi ranks and supermarkets.

Lots of people grew up without central heating, indoor plumbing or electricity. They managed so why on earth should we have things to make our lives easier? 🙄

It should be a smartphone ban, with brick phones allowed switched off in bags for the journey to and from home.

Yes, smartphones are useful for research but the fact is the harms massively outweigh the benefits. Why would you want your kids exposed to distraction, addiction, grooming, porn, sexting, bullying? Looking up information, taking photos of homework, kids with SEN. Yes all useful, but really worth the downsides? To me it's like allowing your kids to smoke because it helps them relax and gives them a social life.

What about the kids whose parents can't afford one? It's not a good system to rely on kit that the kids bring from home anyway.

I know that many parents will fight to the death for their kids to have the right to bring a £400 smartphone to school and I honestly don't understand why it is so essential when the harms are so clear. My number 1 priority when choosing a school for my DD was that it had a phone ban, because I think as well as reducing the harms in school, it creates a culture whereby the kids don't all have to have smartphones at such a young age.

🤣
let's just switch off the Internet altogether.
you Luddite

I think it’s a great idea in principle but honestly can’t see how the schools will manage it. My daughter’s school has 2000 pupils so the logistics of handing phones in then collecting them back would take too long. As parents, we have to take the blame for buying expensive smart phones that allow them to access all these things and I don’t think schools can be responsible for controlling their use. I think schools could take the phones away if they are used in school when they shouldn’t be, but then parents would complain about that. No wonder children think there are no real consequences to being on their phones at school. As parents we send mixed messages on consequences when it affects us, e.g not knowing if our child is home safe from school as their phone was confiscated at school.

Bring back mental arithmetic! The average child wouldn't have a clue how to add up quickly in their head these days.

DS2's (20) mental arithmetic far outstrips mine 😂

They still do mental arthithmatic.

Ds mental maths is much better than mine - a lot of that is down to playing things like time tables rockstars online!

They do mental arithmetic and maths using a calculator. Also GCSE's have one calculator paper and one non calculator paper.

I would LOVE this. I hate social media for children and teens, and everything associated with it. I hate the way at so many schools the kids stand around at break on their phones. Not sure quite how phones need to assist with school work. Laptops maybe..? But kids aren’t spending hours googling literature and pythagoras at break time on their phones.
I spend thousands every year on private school as it has a no phones on school property policy, and any social media bullying or inappropriate behaviour online outside of school results has serious consequences and is investigated immediately. The girls know this and the school is a much happier place.

Our local ,state, high school all children are given an iPad and have access to school WiFi. Phones 0vl

Yes, smartphones are useful for research but the fact is the harms massively outweigh the benefits.

That depends on the child. For many with SENs the benefits outweigh the harm. Maybe look at stopping the children who are using them in a harmful way than penalise those who are not.

They should all have an individual lockable cubbyhole where they are put at the beginning of the school day and collected at the end.

DDs school doesn’t allow them but her friends school does. She goes through periods of texting DD all day (her phone is off) and they are constantly recording TikTok dances at school.

I’ve worked in a school and students use their phones (they aren’t allowed them) to undermine discipline from teachers by texting parents from toilets. The parents get involved. Phone is removed. Parent complains. It wastes a lot of time.

My son uses his to talk when he needs to as he will not talk to strangers.Camera but needed to take pictures for Art. The phone/ text bit needed if he's having a wobble when out. Travel app so he can keep an eye on his travels. Music to drown out varies noises especially during breaks and when they were going on trips. He also needs to access his bank account as he doesnt like taking his card to school. Supermarkets that allow you to scan and shop he uses the app.

We've had open conversations about staying safe online including what he could be arrested for by accessing certain things.
that bullying is not acceptable regardless of how it's done. If the rules are broken said device is confiscated and sites that aren't educational blocked if needed, via his router login .

Perhaps before we buy them phones we should get educated first ourselves to put blocks and limits on devices. It's amazing how many adults hand over the still sealed phone without bothering to set anything up. It's like when parents used to blame sony/Xbox when their dc's spent money cos daft parent added their card, or buying 18's from the stores when feckless fools hadn't bothered to put any restrictions on.

There are also smart phones designed for children and the company has put various bans on apps and sites. Plus the ability to check messages and stuff direct on their own phone, tracking, alerts for when they go out of a set zone and more. Things that parents could set up on most smart phones if only they bothered to do it.

Not having endless phone data also helps all along with restrictions placed directly with the phone company.

Any use of a vpn of other ways used to get round restrictions, say bye to devices and the laptop back to school access only.

Do we really need a load of children entering adulthood still only knowing the basics? That could hold them back employment wise when the rest of the world's 18 year old are whizzes.

Mobiles use is also encouraged to take pictures of boards in school of their homework. The school works with whatever companies recycling and asks for our old devices to that all students have a mobile with camera as a minimum.

I spend thousands every year on private school as it has a no phones on school property policy, and any social media bullying or inappropriate behaviour online outside of school results has serious consequences and is investigated immediately. The girls know this and the school is a much happier place.

And yet DD's school has no ban and still is/has all of those things. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes, smartphones are useful for research but the fact is the harms massively outweigh the benefits. Why would you want your kids exposed to distraction, addiction, grooming, porn, sexting, bullying?

This thread is about banning phones in schools. I would suggest that most of those things take place when children are out of school ...

Sorry posted too soon. All phones locked away in lockers during school hours.