Gillian Keegan is to ban mobile phones from classrooms in England as the devices “pose a serious challenge in terms of distraction, disruptive behaviour and bullying” in schools.
The Education Secretary will order headteachers to stop pupils using smartphones in lessons and breaks in a bid to end disruption and make it easier for pupils to concentrate.
A government source told the Daily Mail that new guidance will be issued to schools across England telling them to act.
The source told the publication: “Gillian believes mobile phones pose a serious challenge in terms of distraction, disruptive behaviour, and bullying.”
They added it is one of the “biggest issues” students and teachers have to “grapple with” so Ms Keegan will detail “a way forward” to empower teachers to ban the devices from classrooms.
It is not the first time an education secretary has announced such a move with Laura McInerney, a former editor of Schools Week, observing Damian Hinds, Gavin Williamson and Nadhim Zahawi have all discussed the issue.
Asked what difference the guidance could make in schools, she told the BBC: “The guidance will be non-statutory, which means it isn’t necessarily legal. It’s not something that schools, if they don’t do it, they’re breaking the law.
“But it’s also something that headteachers can just completely ignore. Instead there will likely be a bit of flexibility so that if schools want to have some exceptions or move away from it a little bit they will.
Ms McInerney agreed that primary schools don’t typically have issues with pupils’ use of mobile phones, but added that around 60 percent of secondaries already do not allow the devices across the day.
She said that another 20 percent are only allowed if teachers give permission to aid their learning.
The United Nations called for a ban in July in a rare intervention which said a zero tolerance approach to smartphones in lessons would help learning and protect children from online bullying.
It said digital technology could never be a substitute for “human-centred” education and personal interactions.