What Does the School Phone Ban Mean for Your Child?

Earlier this February 2024, the UK government announced that it’s pushing through with its enforcement of the restriction of phones within school boundaries.

This school phone ban gives teachers the right to issue rules regarding the phone ban: whether it’s to confiscate phones during school hours and return them once class is over, to use special phone lockers, or to bar them from entering school property outright.

This move is nothing new, having been raised three years prior to its being signed into legislation. This phone ban is also aligned with the decisions made by other country officials, particularly France, Italy, and Portugal, regarding phone use during school hours.

This issuance aims to mitigate distractions and bullying in school, fostering a more inclusive and high-quality learning environment. It also helps improve learning outcomes in the process. 

In any case, this move has vast ramifications for the student body and the school at large. The effects are largely positive. Let’s explore the positive and negative impact of this school phone ban in more detail. 

The Good

The phone ban in schools is filled with perks, such as the following:

1. Potential Academic Improvements

The biggest benefit of the school phone ban is the increased potential for your kid to learn more and get better grades. 

Phones can be very distracting devices, and having them within arm’s reach can compel your kid to open them and scroll through them even when a lecture is in session.

And even if they don’t turn on their device; the temptation to do so can distract them from paying attention to the lesson.

The phone ban helps mitigate this. Since teachers have the right to remove and limit phone use in class, this can put children in the right mindset to learn and truly maximise their time in school.

Thanks to the phone ban, children can boost their productivity and learning ceiling, especially when compared to if they have unlimited phone access.

1. Enhanced Social Interactions

Phones are a means of entertainment, and it’s common for kids with unlimited phone access to scroll through social media and play games for hours on end.

Without phones, students have a lot more free time in the classroom. This can enhance their sociability, making them more likely to engage with their classmates and peers. 

This is a good thing. As kids communicate with each other more, they can foster deeper bonds with their peers and socially grow and mature with age.

Furthermore, increased interactions can help them develop social skills like empathy, teamwork, and understanding of one another and our differences. 

Interpersonal skills can develop within the classroom setting, and when they do good in that setting, this can also translate to better interactions with others outside the classroom and in a professional setting.

Of course, with a phone, this social and emotional development is essentially hindered as kids limit themselves to a gadget and a screen. This phone ban, therefore, can help your child become more socially competent now and for years to come.

1. Fewer Avenues for Bullying

Bullying is a major problem in the UK and other country’s school systems. Phones in school can facilitate the problem, enhancing the rate of cyberbullying attacks in social media and the circulation of sensitive material through private and group chats.

With the school phone ban, the rate of bullying cases taken online and out of school effectively decreases. Students who face constant harassment won’t worry about online attacks while in school.

If bullying cases do occur, the problem will be concentrated in an environment where teachers can approach and resolve the issue. This phone ban, therefore, promotes a culture that actively puts a stop to cyberbullying. This can make the school a safer and more inclusive environment for everyone.

1. Improved Concentration and Class Engagement

Similar to improved academic performance, the school phone ban also makes the classroom a more lively and engaging place. 

Without a phone to distract them, there’ll be more active engagements between students and teachers regarding the lesson material, fostering an environment where learning takes place in its highest form. Participation not only helps students learn more of the subject material, but it also teaches the child to use their active listening and concentration skills. Furthermore, enhanced participation also allows things to be cleared up to the entire classroom, removing the need for mistakes or repeats on the part of the teacher.

Furthermore, the absence of a phone can also remove the chances of phones ringing and disrupting the entire classroom session. This maintains the flow and guarantees that lessons will be done in a timely and quality manner. 

This is applicable in schools that implement outright bans and those that implement school locker collection rules. Own a school that abides by the latter guideline? Find phone lockers here that you can put outside the classrooms to minimise classroom disruptions.

1. Improved Physical Activity

Mental enrichment isn’t the only benefit a phone ban provides, it can also improve physical activity.

Kids are naturally energetic individuals. Many of them enjoy playing in playgrounds, running around, and having an overall good time. This is good not only for enhancing their social experience in school but also for improving their physical and cardiovascular health.

However, if your young one has their hands on a phone, physical activity effectively comes to a halt. Your kid will miss out on opportunities to sweat and get active. Couple that with a bad diet and you could be looking at potential health-related problems down the line for your child, like obesity.

With the school phone ban, your kids won’t have a crutch for break time. This means they’ll have to look at other avenues to have fun—and engaging in physical activity is one likely fallback they’ll consider, which as mentioned earlier, has a tonne of benefits you can count on.

The Not-so-Good

There are some perceived disadvantages of the phone ban in UK schools, which we’ll get into below:

1. Inconvenient and Infrequent Communication

One negative perk of phone-less schools is the reduced ability to communicate with people outside the child’s immediate vicinity. In case of emergencies like a fire or earthquake, a child lack’s of a phone can be a big hindrance. 

Even if the child is safe, the lack of a phone can cause worry to parents who may not know the current state or condition of their child following an urgent school situation. It may also prevent them from contacting emergency services on time.

While the chances of these incidents are rather rare, this limited communication ability can be a big hit to one’s safety and can cause grave concern to parents and loved ones.

1. Reduced Opportunity for Digital Learning

There are a lot of online and smartphone-based tools that can enhance the learning experience of students. 

For instance, there are digital apps that may provide access to exclusive learning resources. There could also be digital games that could be used to challenge or reinforce the knowledge of a child.

With a school-wide phone ban, access to these digital learning tools is nipped. This reduces the learning opportunities teachers can provide to their students. It may also worsen a child’s technological abilities later on due to the lack of exposure to various online and smartphone-based tools.

1. Doesn’t Have to Be a Policy

One point of contention for the school phone ban policy is that it sets a bad precedent for the laws that get passed. 

Even without a policy, most English schools have already enforced guidelines to limit phone access during school hours. This policy has just solidified it and mandated it into law.

The passing of this law can relay a subconscious message to kids that they should follow it without question. Instead of promoting a culture of critical thinking, this promotes a culture of obedience and unquestioning authority, which is a controversial set of values to uphold.

Furthermore, the passing of this law also makes it harder for people with special considerations to be excused. Many of these individuals need gadgets like their phones to do some daily tasks, and making it illegal can be extremely debilitating to them.

Some would say that it’s better to teach responsible behaviour (like not looking at phones during class hours) to their child instead of having it imposed upon them. This way, they can learn on their own why restricting phone use is a good thing.