Mobile Phones in Schools

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Josh MacAlister)]

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on education technology and mobile phones in schools.

Today’s children are growing up in a world shaped by smartphones, social media and artificial intelligence. Technology can bring enormous opportunities, but schools remain—and must remain—a place where children can focus, learn and connect with one another. Technology’s role in education should be to support learning, not to get in its way.

Earlier this year, with support from across the House, the Government strengthened guidance on mobile phones in schools to back teachers and parents in making schools mobile phone-free. Since that updated ban started in September, many schools have taken great steps to tackle the disruption that mobile phones can cause, and I am grateful to school leaders and teachers who have worked hard to create calm, focused classrooms. However, many teachers and pupils tell us that phones are still being used under desks, in the toilets and in the playground. Department for Education data published today tells a similar story: only 16% of secondary pupils say that their school’s mobile phone rules are followed all of the time. That means that teachers are spending valuable time spotting phone use; that school leaders are having difficult conversations about enforcement; and, most importantly, that digital distraction continues to crowd out learning.

How schools choose to implement the existing policy really does matter. Leaders need to feel more empowered by Government to make schools genuinely mobile phone-free environments. In schools where pupils are allowed to keep their phone in their bag or blazer—those with so-called “not seen, not heard” policies—only 20% of school leaders report that the rules are followed all of the time. By contrast, in schools with mandatory collection policies, 74% of leaders report that the rules are followed.

That is why I am today announcing that we will update statutory guidance to make it clear that schools should have policies that ensure children cannot have unsecured mobile phones in their blazer or bag throughout the school day. This backs teachers and leaders by giving them the clarity they are asking for. It still gives schools the choice as to whether phones are collected at the start of the day, kept in secure lockers or stored in a lockable pouch, or any other strategy that ensures phones are not within reach of children. We—parents, teachers and Government—need to work together to change children’s expectations about what the school day looks like. It should be a time to get lost in learning and make friendships that last a lifetime, not to be stuck doomscrolling in the corner of the playground.

The revised guidance will come into effect from September 2027, although we encourage schools to move towards implementation sooner if they can. Schools will continue to be able to make reasonable adjustments and exemptions where appropriate, including for pupils with medical needs and those with special educational needs and disabilities. We will work closely with school leaders as the guidance is developed. We want to learn from schools that have already led the way on this issue, ensuring that the approach is practical, proportionate, and able to meet the needs of children and teachers in different settings.

The second plank of this change is a new approach to deploying technology in schools. Today, we are launching a public consultation on establishing independent safety certification of education technology, or edtech, in schools, colleges and early years settings in England. Well designed and purposeful use of technology can support teaching, learning and the smooth running of settings. We also have a duty to support children and young people to learn to use technology confidently and safely. However, technology should never get in the way of learning. It should enhance, rather than shortcut, cognitive development, and without question it must be safe. Children’s safety and their educational outcomes, human interaction and teacher-led direct instruction must remain at the heart of our education system.

The Department for Education already sets standards for the safe use of technology, but settings are often still left to make sense of whether technology products meet those standards. These can be complex and technical issues about data protection or content safety, for example. That is why we are launching today’s consultation, which will invite views on whether certification for specific categories of technology should be introduced. It will explore which types of technology pose the greatest risks, including through exposure to harmful content, the use of children’s personal data and the impacts on cognitive development or social and emotional wellbeing. The consultation will ask about the standards and criteria that should underpin any scheme. The aim is to reduce the risk of harm to children, remain proportionate for suppliers of all sizes, be robust over time and be useful for educational settings. Findings from the consultation will inform the design of any future certification scheme, including the appropriate timescales for its introduction.

The proposed change to mobile phone guidance and the consultation on edtech safety certification meet the Government’s wider vision for childhood and education. International evidence, including the latest results from the programme for international student assessment, shows the strength of England’s education system. We are determined to go further to improve reading, writing, oracy and numeracy; to strengthen engagement; and to make schools unmissable for children. We want to go further on the depth and rigour of reading, so that we can inspire a love of reading for all children.

PISA highlights the risks when technology begins to replace the challenge, rigour and human interaction that define great teaching and learning. Technology has a place in our classrooms, but it should always be in support of learning, not become a substitute for it. To quote directly from PISA’s recent report:

“Technology can be a powerful amplifier of learning, but only if students are equipped with the cognitive and metacognitive tools to use it wisely. That means protecting time for reading in the school day. It means designing digital learning platforms that reward reflection, not just reaction.”

This Government are determined to get ahead of these challenges by shaping the role that technology plays in children’s lives, rather than leaving children to be shaped by it. I commend this statement to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

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[Josh MacAlister]

Well, we put it on a statutory footing because we had a piece of legislation.

The question that is worth a moment of response was about the educational outcomes being within the scope of the certification process. AI tutors are a real concern, but there is an opportunity there. The Government are funding some of the leading companies around the world to develop products. They will then go into a separate programme for which we have funding, led by the Education Endowment Foundation, to establish the impact on educational outcomes and attainment. It is entirely right to suggest that there should be no widespread deployment of this technology before we know its full effects on cognitive development. Of course, there are also safety issues.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Chair of the Education Committee.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement, and welcome the announcement of strengthened guidance on mobile phones in schools. It constitutes agreement with the Select Committee, which called for a policy whereby children have no access to their phones during the school day rather than a “not seen or heard” policy. The Committee also said that schools should be given the resources, where needed, to implement such a policy in full. For secondary schools, the cost of buying pouches can be as much as £20,000. How will the Government ensure that schools have the resources to implement the policy effectively?

The Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry on AI and edtech. We have received a vast amount of evidence about the complexity of this landscape and the challenges that schools face in respect of procurement and the deployment of technology, and understanding the pedagogical basis that underpins it. Standards should be set, and I welcome the Government’s consultation, but they should be set in relation to a clear sense of the educational purpose of the technology, a deep understanding of pedagogy, and an understanding of the technology itself. What work has been undertaken on those aspects to underpin the Government’s thinking in this area?

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[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I very much welcome this change of heart from the Government. There is no place for phones during the school day, and stronger guidance for schools on mobile phone use is a very welcome step, as is the edtech review. Classrooms should be places of focus and learning, free from the addictive and demanding world of social media that, sadly, so often leads to bullying, but schools need the right equipment and procedures in place.

We Liberal Democrats are very clear that it should be up to headteachers to decide how they keep phones out of reach of pupils, but I reiterate the Chair of the Education Committee’s comments that this will come at a cost and that school budgets are already stretched to breaking point. Some schools will ask parents to buy the pouches, but parents are already facing the ever-rising costs of sending children to school. Can the Minister assure me that school leaders across the country will have the necessary funding to implement the guidance effectively?

For schools that want to ban smartphones completely—some are going down that route already—one barrier is that some bus companies require bus fares to be paid on an app on a smartphone, and they are not willing to change their ways. Is the Minister looking at these sorts of barriers for schools that want to go a step further?

I welcome the clear assurance from the Minister that, for pupils with medical or special educational needs and disabilities, appropriate exemptions and adjustments will be made by schools. This must not be onerous or discriminatory towards individual children. Will he confirm that young carers will be included in such exemptions?

Finally, with an increasing number of schools giving children digital devices to do schoolwork on throughout the school day, and then homework at home, can the Minister confirm whether the edtech review will also look at the amount of screen time that children in schools are being exposed to?

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[Josh MacAlister]

My hon. Friend has asked a really great question to finish the statement on. In line with the quotes he shared, either we as a country will have young people who are disrupted by this technology, or we will need to choose to disrupt it so that it benefits children, young people and the whole country. We do have agency and control over these issues; when we believe that we do not, we end up in a dangerous place. The action that we are taking on education follows a series of other actions that the Government are taking to get ahead of the issue.

I look forward to working with hon. Members across the House on further action in the future as the technology develops. We will need to ensure that we shape it so that it benefits our children, rather than having the disruption that it can cause impacting children’s outcomes.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

May I thank the Minister for his statement and, indeed, for his comments on mobile phone usage in the Chamber?