It is no surprise that Gillian Keegan’s announcement that she will “ban phones in schools” has gone down well with parents. Phones in schools pose a huge problem for parents and teachers alike: 97 per cent of children own a phone by the age of 12, and up to a third of schools say pupils are regularly using phones in lessons.
Mumsnet is ablaze with parents at their wits’ end dealing with children so glued to their devices that they will no longer engage with day-to-day family life – and, more troublingly, lots of parents believe that social media now plays a big part in school bullying.
In short, phones for kids are a massive problem, and the Conservative Party is well aware that a Government that is appearing to get a grip on the problem will likely hoover up a few votes from the frustrated parent demographic.
But will Gillian Keegan’s plan really make a difference?
Headteachers have been given four different options for banning phones
Getty Images/PA
The bold headline “phones to be banned in schools” belies a more complicated reality.
Rather than a blanket law banning phones in schools Keegan has issued “guidance” to schools, which she hopes will “change the norms” of children using phones in schools.
And the guidance is very loose indeed.
Headteachers – if they wish to follow it at all – can choose between four different options, which range from a total ban on phones on the school premises to allowing teenagers to keep their phones on them so as long as they “promise” that they won’t be used in lessons (perhaps Keegan hasn’t spent much time around teenagers).
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Education secretary Gillian KeeganGettyOf course, more robust legislation would be very difficult to enforce, and would probably irritate not only headteachers but civil liberties campaigners on the Conservative backbenches. But critics question whether Keegan’s softly-softly approach will have any effect whatsoever.
Teachers I’ve spoken to argue that any school worth its salt already has a ban on phones in classrooms, and the real issue they face is children using their social media outside of school to pick on their fellow classmates.
The Government is absolutely right that there are votes to be won on this issue. But it feels unlikely that the half-hearted guidance issued today will cut the mustard.
So far, politicians are shying away from Esther Ghey’s campaign to ban smartphones for under 16s. Perhaps now is the moment to rethink that decision.