Mobile phones to be banned in schools across Edinburgh

Mobile phone use in schools across Edinburgh will be banned from bell to bell from August.

Most secondary school pupils will have to place their devices in magnetically sealed pouches throughout the school day, including during breaks and lunchtime.

School senior leadership teams will have the choice to decide whether S5 and S6 pupils will have access to their devices during breaks, lunchtime and independent study time.

Meanwhile, primary students will be required to place their mobiles in lockers throughout the day.

The new policy also covers smartwatches in both primary and secondary schools.

An exemption policy will be developed for pupils who need access to their phones during the day for health or other reasons.

Councillors voted to approve the ban at the Tuesday meeting, implementing stronger restrictions than those proposed by council officers.

In a report prepared for the meeting, officers suggested that lockable pouches should only be introduced at secondary schools where local consultations supported them.

The report included testimony from teachers, who stated they were aware of pornography being viewed, as well as 12 year olds accessing and distributing beheading videos.

However, some teachers expressed concerns about what the ban could do in some learning environments due to reported poor wifi access in some schools.

They stated that pupils using their data to access material related to teaching, either on their devices or by hotspotting to their school-issued iPads, was sometimes necessary.

Funding to the tune of £400,000 was agreed in February to support restrictions on mobile phones and other devices that might be implemented.

Lockable pouches have been under trial at Portobello and Queensferry high schools throughout the last school year, the first schools in Scotland to take the step.

The report states that the pilot has been ‘broadly successful’ so far, and that its impact looked positive.

It noted that ‘not all young people are in complete agreement’ with the positive impact of the trial.

Moray Council beat the council to banning mobiles outright, with the report stating that the outcome had been ‘broadly positive’ in the local authority’s schools so far.

In September last year, the ban for primary schools was effectively approved at a meeting of the same committee.

One secondary teacher told members then: “As one teacher I know puts it, it’s as if we are trying to teach maths in a casino full of cocaine, and then wondering why no-one can understand what we are saying.”

Councillors at that meeting also supported research on a ban for secondary schools, as well as the launch of an impact assessment on the impacts of the restriction.

The report by officers for the Tuesday committee meeting said its results would be presented at the meeting, but also stated it would be developed further based on the decision taken.

In the same report, officers presented the results of a consultation which sampled nearly 14,000 parents, teachers and pupils.

It found strong support for restrictions throughout the school day among parents and teachers, but secondary pupils supported lighter restrictions.

The report stated that secondary pupils most strongly backed an option that would ban mobiles during learning time, but allow access during social times.

Only 3% backed a ban throughout the school day, and 53% said they should be trusted to follow school rules and not be required to lock their devices away.