Report confirms effectiveness of classroom phone-ban

Policy Exchange has published a major new study which considers the effectiveness of smartphone bans in schools.

The report’s findings – which are based upon Freedom of Information requests to primary and secondary schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – suggest the ban is a pragmatic and preventative policy intervention.

It reports that secondary schools with an effective ban on phones are more than twice as likely to be rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted as schools without.

Children at schools with an effective ban achieved GCSE results that were 1 – 2 grades higher (equivalent to a Progress 8 differential of 0.13 – 0.25) compared to children at schools with laxer policies. This is despite the fact that schools with effective bans had a higher proportion of pupils eligible for Free School Meals than schools with less restrictive policies.

Policy Exchange recommends that school leaders implement effective bans on mobile phones. In order for them to be most effective, it is recommended that phones are handed in or stored in lockers, Yondr pouches (or equivalent) at the beginning of each day, or alternatively banned from site.
    
The think tank also recommend the that the government carefully monitors whether or not schools are implementing effective bans on phones and, if the situation does not improve within a year, for the current guidance to become statutory and binding.
    
The report also calls for Ofsted to incorporate the emerging body of evidence on mobile phones into its Education Inspection Framework and inspector training, and for Teacher Training providers to ensure they incorporate the latest evidence on phones, social media and mental health into their curricula. This should include teaching about effective models of phone bans and enforcements.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “Mobile phones distract and disrupt a child's education. They have no place in classrooms.

 “That's exactly why we have banned mobile phones in schools, and I welcome this report from Policy Exchange further demonstrating why phone bans in classrooms are so important.

 “Our plan to give every child a world-class education is working, with 90 per cent of schools now good or outstanding, up from 68 per cent in 2010.”