Pupils face full ban on mobile phones in UK schools under new plans from the education secretary

Mobile phones could be banned in all schools as part of a government clampdown on poor discipline in classrooms across the UK.

The education secretary Gavin Williamson said he wants a ban on mobile phones as he launched a consultation on pupil behaviour and discipline in schools, The Guardian reported.

He said he wanted to make the school day ‘mobile-free’ to help ensure that classrooms remain calm and pupils can overcome the impact of the pandemic.

He said: “Mobile phones are not just distracting, but when misused or overused, they can have a damaging effect on a pupil’s mental health and wellbeing. I want to put an end to this, making the school day mobile-free.”

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Williamson also urged teachers, parents and other school staff to share their views and policies on managing good behaviour in classrooms before he updates government guidance on behaviour, discipline, suspensions and permanent exclusions later this year.

When announcing his plan, he stated: “No parent wants to send their child to a school where poor behaviour is rife. Every school should be a safe place that allows young people to thrive and teachers to excel.

“In order for us to help pupils overcome the challenges from the pandemic and level up opportunity for all young people, we need to ensure they can benefit from calm classrooms which support them to thrive.”

However, headteachers and teaching unions have opposed the proposal, insisting that mobile phone policies were a matter for schools. The education secretary was also accused of using the issue as a distraction from the government’s failures on education during the pandemic.

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Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the education secretary is ‘obsessed’ with mobile phones in schools: “In reality, every school will already have a robust policy on the use of mobile phones; it isn’t some sort of digital free-for-all.

“Frankly, school and college leaders would prefer the education secretary to be delivering an ambitious post-pandemic recovery plan and setting out how he intends to minimise educational disruption next term, rather than playing to backbenchers on the subject of behaviour.”

As well as the mobile phone policy, the government is looking at introducing ‘removal rooms’ and ‘managed moves’ where a pupil would be transferred to another school as a way of avoiding a formal expulsion.