It’s not often that I am in total agreement with government ministers on issues of behaviour management in schools, but recent comments about banning mobile phones from the classroom have struck a chord with me.

Despite a number of people criticising education secretary Gavin Williamson’s suggestion that mobile phones should not be “used or seen during the school day”, I actually believe that the UK government is on the right side of this particular argument.

As a school leader, my experience is that mobile phones are a distraction to young people, and, more often than not, they can have a harmful impact on both children’s emotional wellbeing and their academic success.

There are multiple pieces of evidence that support this view, such as research that suggests test scores increase, especially in the lowest-attaining students, when phones are banned. Or studies that show the mere presence of a mobile phone, even when switched off, can distract students. And research that shows smartphones lead to increased stress and anxiety.

Some commentators insist that schools should be teaching students to use phones responsibly. I would argue that the best way to do this is to restrict the use of phones while at school, where young people need to focus. This argument is backed up by my experience of introducing a mobile phone ban at a previous school.

So, why and how did we ban phones? Like many schools, we already had clear rules about when smartphones should and should not be used. We had a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme in place and thought that we could protect students through network restrictions on social media sites.

However, despite the rules, phones were persistently becoming a problem, being used in class when they shouldn’t be. Students could also quite easily switch to their data plans and access all manner of social media applications; those with a VPN could go even further.

We had also noticed a gradual rise in smartphone-related pastoral incidents. Dealing with issues that began online and found their way into school was taking up a great deal of the pastoral team’s time. Students would read a post or message during the day, and the result would be one or more of them in floods of tears in the pastoral office.

Other incidents were more serious. A young person would come into school not able to escape from problems that were taking place online. They could not switch off, which had devastating impacts on their mental wellbeing.

Message received

Some students would openly flout the rules around phones not being used in classrooms out of sheer anxiety and fear of missing out. Students would tell us that if they did not respond to a message, the message-writer might think they were ignoring them.

On a few occasions this would be a parent messaging the child, who was then worried about getting into trouble if they did not respond. The whole scenario was exasperating. There was an issue, and we needed to solve it.

So, as a school, we conducted some surveys of students (without mentioning the policy that we were considering). In this survey, students revealed that they felt anxious in lessons if unable to check their phone, and said that they had been distracted by its presence in classes.

In addition, a number reported that they had at some point had peers send negative comments or illicit images to them during school hours. While this was a minority, it was still significant enough to be of concern.

We later used this research to justify to the school community why we had decided to ban phones completely from school.

There is no getting away from the fact that it was not a popular decision with students. However, there was acceptance and, remarkably, near enough 100 per cent compliance with the new policy when it was put into place.

Parents were also consulted and, unsurprisingly, when faced with the research and results of student surveys, they were largely in favour. Likewise, teachers who had just about had enough of the distractions that phones brought to their lessons were happy with the new policy.

The rules were simple: phones were not allowed to be seen from the moment students arrived on site until the end of the school day. If there was so much as a hint of one being seen, it would be confiscated until such time as a parent could come on site to sign it back to the student.

The risk of losing a mobile phone over a weekend meant students were encouraged to follow the rules.

As a result, staff didn’t need to apply professional judgement to incidents regarding mobile phones any more: the decision was black and white. This eased the burden on them.

Alongside this, senior leaders stuck to the policy rigidly even when, occasionally, a parent would object or a student would come up with an elaborate reason as to why they needed to have their phone with them.

We did, however, have to make some compromises within the policy owing to our context as an international school. Students were allowed to use their phones at the end of the school day in the reception area as many were collected by parents or arranged their own transport.

The sight of masses of students at the end of the school day glued to their phones just reinforced that we had made the right decision.

The impact overall was huge. While some of the younger students barely noticed the change, a number of the older students commented on the positive impact the policy had in school.

Overnight, the number of pastoral issues dropped significantly. Students lost some of their anxiety about missing out, and, in the classroom, teachers were able to teach without distraction.

In addition, students and staff reported feeling safer in the school environment. We could restrict access to applications and malicious sites while using our network. Issues where a teacher might be filmed or recorded in class with footage instantly uploaded online, which unfortunately can happen, were restricted.

So, if you are thinking of banning phones, I would recommend you go for it. Not because Gavin Williamson says so, but because it could be the best thing for your staff and students.

Consult with your school community and ground your decisions in research. It is not about politics, it is about ensuring the safety, personal growth and academic progress of your students. Isn’t that what schools are meant to be all about?

Neal Oates is vice-principal of Star International School Mirdif, in Dubai

This article originally appeared in the 4 June 2021 issue