A statistic that may bewilder anyone older than around 35 – by age 12, 97% of pupils have a mobile phone.
Here’s another alarming figure.
At one secondary school, the head said he’d spoken to a pupil who had spent 18 hours on their phone in a single Sunday.
Given all that, it’s no surprise that formal guidance on using mobile phones within schools in England has been talked about by the government for years.
It’s now materialised and, in general, has been welcomed by headteachers as providing clarity and consistency – as well as an empowering effect to crack down on phone use.
But will the new document have much tangible impact?
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Many schools already have rules around phone use – ranging from blanket bans to confiscation policies.
While the government has said half of schools currently do not restrict use, a survey by Teacher Tapp last month suggested 62% of secondaries had blanket bans during the day and fewer than 1% allowed phone use at any time.
The City of London Academy in Southwark allows pupils to keep their phones on them but enforces a ‘see it, hear it, lose it’ rule where handsets are taken away if they are spotted or go off in lessons.
A phone is confined to the confiscation locker until the end of the following day for a first offence or the end of the next week if it happens a second time.
The head here says the stringency of the rules does have a deterrent affect as many pupils would often rather be suspended than separated from their phone for an extend period.
The…
