Mobile Phones in Schools

Alistair Strathern Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

It was great to see local schools like the Priory and Hitchin Boys’ and Girls’ lead the way on keeping phones out of the classroom. Having campaigned with parents and teachers to make this a norm, I am delighted that the Government are leading on this issue. As others have alluded to, the growth of generative AI is threatening to tread on children’s learning in the same way that smartphones did; just as we did with smartphones, we should not treat that as inevitable or unavoidable. How does the Minister intend to support our schools to ensure that generative AI can be used as an effective tool to support learning, but kept out of the spaces where it can be harmful to learning?

[Josh MacAlister]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight this matter. He has been a massive campaigner on these issues in his constituency and in this House, as have others. My hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) has also been a big advocate for these issues. Earlier this year I was in Estonia, which has a high-performing school system and is adept at making good use of technology. While I was there, I saw the care and thought that went into the development of generative AI models that could be Socratic with pupils—they could coach and teach back and forth. Anything like that would need to go through rigorous testing to ensure that educational outcomes would be improved, but that shows the care and thought that needs to go into the deployment of such technologies.