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    Tories push for school phone ban as parents fear for children's wellbeing - amid concerns teachers ignoring guidance
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    Tories push for school phone ban as parents fear for children’s wellbeing – amid concerns teachers ignoring guidance

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    42 Comments

    2. ObiWanKenobiNil on

      I don’t disagree however why didn’t they implement it anytime in the last 14 years if they’re worried about it

    3. Evening-Feature1153 on

      Let’s blame teachers for something we didn’t give a shit about for 14 years.

    4. rebo_arc on

      Typical Tory, 14 years to do something and now want to do it after they get kicked out of office.

      For what it’s worth almost all decent schools have a ban in place already.

    5. OldGuto on

      So why didn’t you guys do this when your party was in charge?

      Let’s be honest about these pronouncements the Tories are running scared of Farage and are trying to keep themselves in the news.

    6. SloightlyOnTheHuh on

      He he he, we do ignore guidance. I’m not taking responsibility for some kids 1000 pound phone so I’m not going to take it away from them. The places I’ve worked have no system to safe keep phones.

    7. AnotherYadaYada on

      Why ooooh why do kids have phones in schools??? 

      My kids have one to walk to school, then they hand it in until the end of the day.

      It’s literally a no brainer!! Schools should enforce this, nothing to do with government.

    8. Feltipfairy on

      Hang fire! Surely parents control children’s phones not teachers! We can’t search their bags

    10. JonVanilla on

      Schools skills teach restraint. Confiscating phones teachers that you can’t have restraint.

    12. pooponapee on

      Every school I know of in my area has already done this years ago. Why are the Tories so out of touch?

    13. DecompressionIllness on

      My high school had a phone ban back in 2005. Didn’t work. We still used them.

    14. newnortherner21 on

      One of the main obstacles I think to an effective ban would be the parents who somehow think their child can be an exception to a reasonable rule at a school. The kind of exceptionalism to following rules that was the hallmark of Kemi Badenoch’s former leader whom she was in cabinet with, Boris Johnson.

    15. AugustineBlackwater on

      It’s not that difficult to resolve this issue, schools I’ve worked at just take the phones in the morning then give them back at the end of the day, they’re taken at the gate and put in a box with their tutor group written on it. No phones in school and their children are safe because even if something did happen *in* school, the staff have phones to call the police as well as landlines in offices.

      But I guess it’s easier to blame teachers.

    16. WhilstRomeBurns on

      As a teacher my old school implemented this policy. Blanket ban. If you see a phone, it’s confiscated and they get it back at the end of the day from the office. I was sceptical at first, didn’t think it’d work or have any real impact apart from causing us hassle. However, it worked like a charm. Honestly, phones just disappeared and students ended up actually playing in the school yard again. No more students stood in circles ignoring each other. I realised, it wasn’t just about the lost learning, but the loss of social skills that hurt these young people’s education. I do think the schools do need good policies and systems around it though. If I confiscate something, I’m responsible, so there needs to be good plans in place to limit any issues. I’ve been really won over. Although I do appreciate different schools may need different approaches, it definitely worked in mine.

    17. mashed666 on

      Now to pretend to care when all they did was take us backwards the last 14 years… And steal as much as possible for there rich friends…

    19. Robynsxx on

      I mean, this is just kinda dumb. Kids need phones to get to and from school to pay for travel and to make sure they can stay safe.

      Just have schools actually enforce rules so that first bell rings phones have to be away until last bell rings, and if a teacher sees a phone out, confiscate it and give kid detention.

      This doesn’t have to be a culture war issue where the government has to step in…

    21. Iinaly on

      They’re correct, but why the fuck have they done nothing about it since 2007? Bitch bitch bitch, let the grown ups in charge.

    22. Brian-Kellett on

      Our school has a ‘if we see a phone it gets confiscated and *your parent* has to collect it at the end of the day’

      For those saying to put it in lockers…

      I’m down to my last ream of lined paper and we haven’t the budget to buy any more until April. We have 1,700 students and there is no spare space (we only just have enough classrooms – we don’t have enough science labs). So how can we afford them, and where would we put them?

      And next year the school has to afford an unfunded teacher pay rise. Us support staff are holding our breath over possible redundancies.

      And sadly that won’t change until we have a government that doesn’t think in immediate concerns but instead has 20+ year plans (want to boost employment? Invest in education rather than remove benefits from the disabled, but of course you won’t then see a benefit for at least a decade)

    23. After-Dentist-2480 on

      Tories had 14 years to implement such a ban. They chose not to.

      Why not accept that individual headteachers know how to run their own schools better than most politicians, and let them decide whether or not to ban mobile phones?

    24. Tits_McgeeD on

      They had 14 years to address this issue. Now they want to ‘push’ Labour to do it. Tories didn’t nothing for schools besides end food programs and cut funding. Bunch of corrupt clowns.

    25. DoomSluggy on

      If a kid uses their phone in class just take it away from them. Then give it back after class. 

      For repeat offenders, make it the whole day plus detentions. 

      But I’m pretty sure schools do this already, so a ban is not effective. 

    26. Dave_Unknown on

      Parents fear for their children’s wellbeing? Because they send them with a phone?

      Wellll how’s about you don’t send them to school with a phone then? And maybe stop passing the blame to the school.

    27. Pen_dragons_pizza on

      Once again teachers being blamed.

      They have no power and have an awfully shit job trying to teach and also safeguard 100s of the country’s little shits.

      You cannot do right as a teacher basically, kids hate you, parents hate you, the head makes your life difficult and to top it off you are paid like shit.

      The workload of a teacher is insane, people should put themselves into their shoes to realise how difficult it is to keep on top of everything and also take notice of individual children’s needs.

      A rule should be made from higher up and leave it at that.

    28. Heretic155 on

      Of course, teachers are to blame… Having worked in education for the past 16 years, the fight against mobile phones is never-ending. Most students respect such rules, but the ones that are not are supported by their parents. Dealing with those sorts of parents is exhausting.

    30. teacherjon77 on

      Schools already can and do ban phones. The real issue is the 15 hours a day kids spend on their phones when not at school (actual figures from a y7s screen time I saw recently…)

    32. midnight_scintilla on

      Genuine question, is anything ever implemented that requires parents to do more? I so often see parents in these situations complaining about how easy it is to access bad content on the Internet, but then are shocked that parental controls exist. It seems as though they think all the responsibility should be on the platform and not on them.

    34. MagazineMassacre on

      I managed to get through school without even a ten pence piece in my pocket to make a phone call.

    36. Krinkgo214 on

      If this ever happens it will revolutionise education as we have seen it in the last few years.

      As a teacher, I have seen behaviour, attainment, engagement and mental health plummit since I began in 2011. It is in free fall. It’s out of control. And those who say it’s not an issue are ignorant of the effects these have had not only in school but as a consequence in wider society.

      I don’t care who is in power and who isn’t. It’s not political. This just has to happen.

    37. AdministrativeBus112 on

      why cant children have brick phones only? give them an old nokia with only call/text and snake on it

    41. AmyZero on

      My school tried this last year – didn’t work, we all still took our phones. The school gave up after ten days.