Consultation opens on restricting mobile phones in schools in Scotland

A consultation on restricting mobile phones in schools has been opened by the Scottish Government to help work out the “finer details” of the ban.

It will give children, young people, parents, carers, school staff, and education authorities the opportunity to share their views on what potential legislation could be enforced.

Perth Grammar School, which the education secretary Mairi McAllan visited on Tuesday, implemented a ban on phones in the classroom in October last year.

The school uses boxes where pupils leave their phones at the beginning of a class and they are then returned at the end for use in break times.

Perth Grammar School has already implemented rules on phones in classrooms. STV News

Pupils and teachers alike agree that the impact on learning has been significant.

Maddison Miller, a pupil at the school said: “Introducing the phone box allowed us to be away from it, so you don’t always think where’s my phone, what messages have I got, if it’s in the box you don’t have that feeling and you’ll know – okay, I can focus now.”

Owen Gibson, another pupil said: “I think it’s made a huge difference, it’s very positive, you’re able to focus and retain the knowledge that the teacher is giving you.”

Martin Reid, Perth Grammar School’s acting headteacher said: “It’s about belonging in a classroom, and that’s what we’ve got back – higher levels of engagement.

“There’s more participation and young people are interacting more with each other more positively.”

McAllan said the consultation will be used to take into account any “exceptions” within a school phone ban.

In June, schools were encouraged to restrict the use of phones during teaching and learning time. iStock

She said: “The consultation begins today and it is based on the government’s intention to legislate, to pass laws, to take a national position of ending personal mobile phones in the learning environment, and it builds upon guidance which is already in place, but it asks key questions like: should it be a whole campus ban, or should it be a classroom ban?

“It talks about issues like where there’s exceptions. I don’t want there to be too many exceptions so as not to undermine the underlying principle. But I’m very clear that young people will sometimes need a mobile phone to manage a medical condition, or perhaps if they’re young carers to contact home.

“It’s about getting those finer details worked out in consultation with teachers, young people, parents, but also it’s about a national provision for the end of mobile phones in the learning environment.”

Updated guidance was published in June which encourages schools to restrict the use of phones during teaching and learning time as a minimum while the proposed mandatory legal restrictions are being developed.

Last year students at Portobello High School and Queensferry High School were issued with wallets to keep their phones in during the school day which once sealed require a magnetic pad to unlock them.

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The schools will introduce lockable pouches for the devices in an attempt to curb distractions in class.

McAllan said she is keen to find alternatives to the “expensive” pouch system.

She added: “I’ve already been clear that I don’t, for example, support a nationwide rollout of the pouches that we have seen because they are expensive.

“I think I’m not alone in feeling that I should far rather have that money invested into education than in managing highly addictive tech.”

The consultation, which will run for three months, has been published alongside practical guidance for parents to keep their children safe online and manage their screen time.