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.

It should be switched off and in their bag during the day and this is the policy at the school my DS will be going to in year 7. I don’t think they should ban them all together though, the vast majority of secondary school kids walk/cycle/get the bus home alone. I know kids pre-mobile phones survived but I personally like the fact DS will be able to contact me if he ever gets stuck. He also uses Apple Pay to pay for the bus…

There are plenty of things that are banned in school, for the good of the school community.

And? Do any of them have benefits? That doesn't negate what I said anyway - banning things rarely teaches moderation and proper use.

People just aren't as addicted to giant teddy bears, skateboards and spud guns and lots of other things that you just wouldn't bring to school! Because you know they wouldn't be acceptable at school.

Please tell me how they benefit pupils in any way. Unlike a smartphone (if you can be bothered to read the thread to see how they are beneficial)

There is simply no justification for a child having a smart phone or having access to a phone number. I've never heard of a justification that makes any rational or logical sense. The risks are far too high, they cause far too many problems, they distract students and can be the cause of serious trouble.
The warped logic that is trotted out on time and time again is nonsense.

I agree, OP. I see the same but-whataboutery posts being made and hysteria about phones being essential at all times.

They're' not though, are they? If kids were using them for essential only it wouldn't be an issue but, they're on them all the time, hugely addicted to meaningless chat with people they're standing next to. It's not necessary but it is harmful.

That's my opinion anyway and I hate that it's become normalised that all kids have phones. I don't want mine to have them but, it's going to be impossible to set them apart from their peers. I think we'll rue the day that we allowed our children to become braindead zombies.

"Bollocks. All the phones my teenagers had had their own numbers and were registered to me. Most phones for children are in that category as the contract will mostly be in the parent's name."

And that should be against the law.

@SoupDragon

People just aren't as addicted to giant teddy bears, skateboards and spud guns and lots of other things that you just wouldn't bring to school! Because you know they wouldn't be acceptable at school.

Please tell me how they benefit pupils in any way. Unlike a smartphone (if you can be bothered to read the thread to see how they are beneficial)

Whether they are beneficial is a separate point. You’re saying banning doesn’t teach moderation. I think banning in a specific context won’t negate the ability to use phones in moderation, as this is something that could be learned outside school. I also think there is a parallel with something like drinking: to teach my kids moderation I could allow them the odd beer aged 16, but I’d be unlikely to allow this at 11 and it would be fine to wait until 18. Plenty of people wait until adulthood and in fact are more mature in managing themselves.

As posters have said, a lot of schools actually encourage use of phones during lessons, so this policy would target them.

But at the same time, they would deprive the teachers if a tool for teaching.
When a lot of the stuff is online (homework for a start), you expect pupils to be able to do an onlime search etc... at some point, you need to allow those pupils to actually access the internet.

I've seen the system working with and without phones/ipads/laptop and with.
The bottom line is that the issue is NOT with the tools (such as a mobile phone). It's about the rules and schools can actually hood their boundaries.
A blanket statemnet 'let's ban all mobile phones' leaves me because I have no idea what sort of problem it's supposed to tackle (And that's from somepne who, as a parent, has absolutely hated my dcs having an ipad for school)

Surely this is something that each school should decide themselves (and each parent too - if you don't want your child to access a phone during school hours, don't send them to school with one) My eldest son's school is one of the very few that allows phones in schools and actively encourages their use. It's very STEM focused and takes the view that we should be using the technology available to us, within the guidelines that they set. The school encourages videoing of certain parts of lessons, photographing resources, using phones to search for information, communicating with teachers outside of lessons etc and it seems to work well. Because the boys are allowed their phones they actually seem to be less inclined to use them, because it's not illicit. It's not how I did things 'in my day but I believe that that times change and we need to change with them.

@Joanie1972, have you tried to teach a teenager moderation for phone/ipad use when all the hoework is on;ine and they need access to the internet to do said homework??

You cant compare internet usage/phone usage that you have to use on a daily basis and alcohol that you can chose to forgo completely if you want (and you certainly only have on occasions)

@TeenMinusTests

I think this should be up to individual schools.

Phones can be a useful tool, such as taking a photo of homework or looking up info, but I agree they can cause issues too.

Parents will also want their DC to have access to phones for travel.

People can always find excuses, the fact is that phones are a nuisance in classrooms, especially older students. When they first became common, back in the 90s, we had more than one parent who insisted that they had the 'right' to phone their children whenever they wanted.

Bitofachinwag

What kind of messages do teachers need to send their pupils between lessons?

Messages about sports events, team selection, training, homework, tests, availability of labs or equipment, things to print for next lesson, things too do with projects they are on. It is like DS is working in an office with a constant stream of messages.
Children can ask for help, and teachers often post the answers to all, so they can learn.

@SoupDragon

People just aren't as addicted to giant teddy bears, skateboards and spud guns and lots of other things that you just wouldn't bring to school! Because you know they wouldn't be acceptable at school.

Please tell me how they benefit pupils in any way. Unlike a smartphone (if you can be bothered to read the thread to see how they are beneficial)

Well, you might get great comfort from your giant teddy bear, the other two I am not too sure about, but I am sure you realise that those things were silly examples to illustrate the point that you don't have to be allowed to use something at school to learn how to use it properly.
Let's be realistic, if schools allowed phones during the school day they would mainly be used for fun, not learning. If schools want children to use internet connected devices during the school day they need to provide those devices.

A logistical nightmare in a large secondary school to take phones off every pupil and give them back at the end of the day. Phones in bags, switched off and consequences if they're taken out should be enough.

@YoutubeZoom

Bitofachinwag

What kind of messages do teachers need to send their pupils between lessons?

Messages about sports events, team selection, training, homework, tests, availability of labs or equipment, things to print for next lesson, things too do with projects they are on. It is like DS is working in an office with a constant stream of messages.
Children can ask for help, and teachers often post the answers to all, so they can learn.

Wow, sounds quite stressful for the children.

@Clymene

One of my children uses his to record verbal instructions and take photos of the board. Without that ability, he cannot access the curriculum.

As usual, no one thinks of kids with SEN.

Yes my ds photos is used to take photos of hw.

It is stupid to think that we live in a world where children don't use phones. Teach boundaries.

We have a policy for phone use. If broken 3 times not allowed phone in school.

I 100% support a ban on mobiles on site at schools.

I cannot see why a child would need one whilst on school premises during school hours. If they need assistance or to contact parents they should be doing so via teachers.

Mobile phones are so damaging to children and I hope this legislation gets through.

More towns and cities are rolling out bike hire schemes that require a smartphone to use. So there's another reason to have them in secondaries and 6th forms at least.

Pupils handing them in and collecting at the end of the day is going to be a load of hassle and there'll inevitably be kids taking someone else's phone to deal with. I don't think that extra work should be centrally imposed on teachers.

As for this idea of a specialised device? Made for a small country whose government has a bee in it's bonnet, it'd cost an absolute bomb and be poor quality.

Teachers are messaging children on phones? Surely that's a complete recipe for disaster.
Why can't they email them on a moderated email account?
Or better still why can't teachers just verbally tell the students what they need to know or post a sign on a notice board?

This is madness.

if you don't want your child to access a phone during school hours, don't send them to school with one

The problem with that is that other children's phone use affects my child when they have their photo taken/are filmed and this is posted on SM/forwarded to others. Also, when someone thrusts a screen showing porn in front of their face and if they don't want to watch it they are made fun of.

@FanFckingTastic

Surely this is something that each school should decide themselves (and each parent too - if you don't want your child to access a phone during school hours, don't send them to school with one) My eldest son's school is one of the very few that allows phones in schools and actively encourages their use. It's very STEM focused and takes the view that we should be using the technology available to us, within the guidelines that they set. The school encourages videoing of certain parts of lessons, photographing resources, using phones to search for information, communicating with teachers outside of lessons etc and it seems to work well. Because the boys are allowed their phones they actually seem to be less inclined to use them, because it's not illicit. It's not how I did things 'in my day but I believe that that times change and we need to change with them.

The problem is that there is a huge amount of peer pressure. Parents won’t deprive their kids of a phone even if they’re worried about harm because they don’t want them to be left out. It puts parents in a really difficult position which is resolved if school bans them.

The problem with that is that other children's phone use affects my child when they have their photo taken/are filmed and this is posted on SM/forwarded to others. Also, when someone thrusts a screen showing porn in front of their face and if they don't want to watch it they are made fun of

This is totally true ime

@Joanie1972 I do think that parents and schools have to make the call on this, rather than a draconian blanket ban. I understand that it puts parents in a difficult position due to peer pressure but that's the case with lots of different issues - parenting is bloomin hard :-) My view is that we need to embrace the technology that we have, within the boundaries that we / the school set. I think that a blanket ban also disadvantages kids that use technology to access learning due to SEN.

No way. Why should politicians make blanket decisions of this nature? Leave it up to individual headteachers.

Butt out Williams, you utter, utter fuckwit. Over my dead body on this issue.

Terrible idea as a blanket ban, DS's phone is is homework diary, bus ticket, dinner menu and purchase. Not to mention he attends a school a little bit outside his catchment area so if there's an issue with the school bus the phone is also valuable.

His school have rules on being in flight mode during lessons etc which seems to be well respected. Also, our kids need to be more tech savvy than we were at that age due to the world they will be entering into as adults.