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Mobile Phones To Be Banned In Schools In England Under New Plans (theguardian.com) 95

Posted by BeauHD from the critical-safeguarding-legislation dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that "critical safeguarding legislation" is passed. The government will table an amendment to the children's wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches. It will make existing guidance on mobile phone bans in schools statutory, a move that ministers have resisted until now.

The government had consistently argued that the vast majority of schools had already banned mobile phones, and that there was no need to add a legal requirement. They finally capitulated, however, describing it as "a pragmatic measure" to get the bill through. [...] The bill is regarded by many as the biggest piece of child protection legislation in decades and includes proposals for a compulsory register for children who are not in school, a crackdown on profiteering in children's social care, and a "single unique identifier" to help agencies track a child's welfare.
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Mobile Phones To Be Banned In Schools In England Under New Plans More

Mobile Phones To Be Banned In Schools In England Under New Plans

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  • Good (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sit1963nz ( 934837 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @07:08PM (#66104134)
    It will help the kids learn by being less distracted.

  • Bold move, but jolly good! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Morpeth ( 577066 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @07:19PM (#66104152)

    Study after study shows kids do better in school, are more engaged, and more social when phones are out of the picture. 'Social' media is exactly the opposite, it's isolating and anxiety inducing for a lot of teens.

    I think there's a lot of adults I know who might be better off too. I definitely have some friends / colleagues who waste so much time on it, and it mostly just seems to make them anxious or irate -- but as far as the platforms are considered, who cares as long as they're 'engaged' with it...

    • Still plenty of time to rot their brains outside of school hours.
    • I agree, but like any kind of prisoner, they find a way around the system. iPads aren't banned, but still can do messaging and social media. Other issues include college courses requiring MFA, which is always a cell phone authentication app or text.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        Unless ofv the Ipads that are allowed are ones enrolled in some kind of management scheme that only allow certain apps and loc away anny posibility to use bg, rhen they can just block ip ranges of the bekend of the apps they have no need for at the schools firewall and bingo no social media for you until scoool i out for the day

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by 0xG ( 712423 )

          Unless ofv the Ipads that are allowed are ones enrolled in some kind of management scheme that only allow certain apps and loc away anny posibility to use bg, rhen they can just block ip ranges of the bekend of the apps they have no need for at the schools firewall and bingo no social media for you until scoool i out for the day

          Wow, did you actually read what you typed?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
            No I failed to dothat, one of my many failures Mom the less I've managed to be moded insightful, so I must have had som kind of point

    • Study after study show kids do better in school, are more engaged, and more social when Pokemon cards were taken out of school.

      No shit Sherlock. At school, you are supposed to be paying attention to the curriculum. There is nothing special about phones or Pokemon cards here. Whatever the full details of the scheme here, they have gone too far for reasons NOT related to helping children focus in schools.

      If a teacher finds a student doodling on paper when they should be paying attention, what does the teacher

  • The government had consistently argued that the vast majority of schools had already banned mobile phones

    Assuming this is true, headline is a no-op. However,

    The bill is regarded by many as the biggest piece of child protection legislation in decades and includes proposals for a compulsory register for children who are not in school, a crackdown on profiteering in children's social care, and a "single unique identifier" to help agencies track a child's welfare.

    • ... unique identifier ...

      I think they did this years ago, as a means of proving the education (stream) a child received. This suggests, a second identifier will be a de facto SSN.

      • Not at all, it will simply be an education ID that they can use if they shift schools etc etc etc.
        And its likely only of use during primary/secondary schooling, tertiary schooling will be different.
        And this will be different to the health ID, different to their driver ID, different to their tax ID, different to their passport ID, etc etc etc etc

        • Different ... and all tied back to NIN (or the "it's not a NIN" number before they hand it out officially at 16, in the database it's all the same).

          • Do you KNOW that, or is this you paranoia showing. >
            And if its already that way, what change has ben made ?

            • You call it paranoia, I call it common sense.

              Even if every department does their own identity check based on historical paper chains, like they are supposed to in the UK, they still need something unique to cross reference when inevitably the need to cross reference arrives ... and look, the NIN is right there. So it becomes the universal identifier regardless of the revulsion anglo's feel for that.

              As for issuance at birth, it's the same number used for child benefits and pension plans. I assume that's beca

              • NINOs are generated when the parent applies for Child Benefit, and they're not always unique. I've seen cases where one person is using another's NINO and others where one person has more than one NINO. Going through twenty years of National Insurance Reporting System records to consolidate them into one NINO is just oodles of fun. Ask me how I know.

                • So lets say child protection made a casefile for an underage kid without child benefits? What did they use as their unique identifier before the NHS number?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by shilly ( 142940 )

        Jesus Christ. We already have unique identifiers from birth in the UK in the form of NHS numbers, and a National Insurance (not SSN, because we don't actually live in the states) from 15.5

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        In Ireland people get a PPSN (like an SSN) when the birth is registered. The PPSN isn't frequently needed but it might be asked for when registering the kid for a school, applying for a passport, applying for benefits on their behalf

        In the UK, people get a national insurance number at the age of 16 for tracking tax / pension contributions & social security payments. I assume the measure is intended to issue the number at birth for similar reasons.

    • (Re)publican-minded citizens do not want a government agency tracking their childs' behavior. That interjection of external power into family dynamics is a bad-faith attempt to increase state surveillance over the general population ... that is, an exercise of tyranny. That social service agencies seem to universally approve speaks to their self-interest not to child welfare. The best government contribution to child welfare is managing a disciplined social structure and robust economy for the parents

  • Ban Phones at Lunch and Between Classes (Score:3, Informative)

    by Innovation ( 10503276 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @07:56PM (#66104180)
    The current generation is socially isolated, lonely and scared. The reason is phones provide a bubble that lets kids hide from the awkwardness of talking to the kid sitting beside them on the bus or at lunch. But, without those awkward moments kids don't develop friendships and social skills. Those are far more important than academic skills. The very fabric of life is at stake.

    • I think some schools do ban phones during what should be students' "free" time. That's great if your goal is to send a message that you can't trust them to be responsible with their device usage after laying down rules as to when it is and isn't appropriate to use their phones. Also, making something into contraband almost never backfires. /s

      • I dont see an issue with that, as UK schools also ban a lot of other things during "free time" (its not actually time without restriction), for example leaving the school grounds for most of the school body (when you get into sixth form, you gain more freedoms as you are deemed to be there voluntarily).

      • Oooh... they "banned" cell phones! Are they searching the kids on the way in, or do they just assume the kids simply won't break the rule and have their phone on silent in a pants pocket?
        Easier to just wrap the building in copper mesh... if the parent(s) need(s) to get ahold of the kid, they can call the school.
        I don't think my kid needs a thousand dollar iPhone... maybe a limited flip phone.

  • Are they banning calculators as well?

  • Anecdotal evidence (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gramie2 ( 411713 ) on Monday April 20, 2026 @08:48PM (#66104242)
    The Province of Quebec banned cell phones in schools in January 2024, and teachers (I sometimes work in schools) have told me that they see significant improvement, with fewer distractions and more personal interactions between students.
  • I have no issue with banning phones in schools but the single unique identifier thing makes my blood run cold. The state does not own the children.
    • No one said they did. This is no different to a drivers licence where it can include the classes of vehicles you are permitted to drive, you do not require a unique drivers licence for each vehicle.

    • They get a national insurance number when registered as born already ... but in true British fashion, they will probably just make a new number (and then tie it back to NIN any way, the one number to rule them all).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shilly ( 142940 )

        Perhaps the government has some store of all pre 15.5 year old's NINOs, but they don't issue NINOs to individuals till 15.5. But everyone gets an NHS number at birth

        • NI numbers are automatically allocated three months before a child's 16th birthday, but only when the parent's have claimed child benefit. Everybody else has to apply for an NI number, if they want to work. Theoretically, somebody could get by without an NI number, but Iâ(TM)m sure that's a niche reserved for people with silver spoons.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by shilly ( 142940 )

            Yup

          • Nope. When a parent applies for Child Benefit the child is allocated a NINO, but HMRC refers to it as the CRN.

            • As far as I'm aware, Child Reference Numbers (CRNs) follow a different format to NI numbers. Do you have experience otherwise or can point to somewhere online that explains this?

              This doesn't say how things are implemented, but suggests that CRNs and NINos are different:

              Most people are automatically given a National Insurance Number as they approach the age of sixteen. This is because when a claim to Child Benefit is made, the child is allocated a Child Reference Number (CRN) for HMRC/DWP use only. From the

        • The NHS number is new, but they already got a NIN immediately when they got an early pension or child benefits regardless of age.

          Of course before the NHS number kids also had database entries for whatever government creates cases for and they needed a unique identifier for those. In theory you could just use the parents NIN until a personal NIN is issued, but that's awkward and fragile. There's already an unique identifier they will issue eventually or immediately any way depending on circumstance ... maybe

  • Great not to have phones in school - so great that it seems most schools have already banned them some time ago. So I don't see the point of making a law; perhaps Department of Education regulation would have been more appropriate - this just looks like Parliament trying to make some sort of voter-pleasing statement by enacting a pointless law. I am curious (and too lazy to read the bill itself) what the penalty for non-compliance will be. Fine the teacher? Or the student? Send them to prison? And is t

  • Really not needed (Score:3)

    by prefect42 ( 141309 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @06:34AM (#66104672)

    I don't believe a significant number of schools are seeking a change in the law.

    Right now, schools can set their own policy. Some introduce lockers, or lockable pouches. I've seen this implemented really badly where not having a phone in a pouch was a punishable offence, even if you forgot your phone, or deliberately left it at home. It's also expensive - you're looking at something upwards of £10k to setup something like this, and there's an ongoing cost in time as well as money needed to replace/maintain pouches/lockers over time.

    More common is a rule of "not seen or heard", which is usually expressed as "your phone should be off in your bag during the school day". If you need to contact a parent, you go to the school office or similar. This rule seems to work well on the whole. You'll get some kids going to the toilets to use their phone, which definitely isn't ideal, but I don't think it's a widespread problem. Without lots of funding, I can't see anyone Faraday caging such rooms.

  • They did the same thing in ohio. Kids are not allowed to use phones while in school. Law doesnt say they cant have them at school, just can use them. This was more of a Karen mom law. Pushed it issue away from the schools. Sorry Your sally cant use her phone during the day, State says so. Its not just your child its everyone. Its up to the schools to enforce and they can do that in whatever way the like. faraday bags, or just signs in the hall/class rooms saying dont use your phone.

  • I suppose the next thing they'll do (Score:3)

    by hwstar ( 35834 ) on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @09:26AM (#66104870)

    is bring back mortar boards, robes, and trips to the headmaster's office for a caning. After all it is all about control. As a one who grew up having British parents in the 60's in America, I used to see a lot of this depicted in the British Beano, and Dandy comic books my parents gave to us as kids.

    The problem with control is it usually becomes a "Whack a mole problem. Even during the times the schools had corporal punishment, kids still got away with a lot. In fact, it was a game to see how much they could get away with.

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