Schools must ban smartphones to protect children from “bullying, online abuse, pornography and other harmful content”, Conservatives said. Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott has written to school inspectors Ofsted urging them to make it clear “that phones have no place in the classroom”.
She said Osted currently treats smartphones as an issue that could affect pupils’ behaviour, but they should be considered a safeguarding concern because they can place children in danger – and schools should fail inspections if they allow pupils to use them. In a letter to schools chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver, Ms Trott said: “Schools should fail the safeguarding check if smartphones are present for students during the school day.”
Pressure is growing for a ban and 145,000 parents have signed a pledge, backed by campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood, to bar their children from owning a phone until youngsters are at least 14.
Research by the Children’s Commission found one in five secondary schools prohibit mobile phones but the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, who backs a ban, has said this creates a “postcode lottery”. It emerged during the trial that one of Brianna’s killers had been watching violent content online and Esther Ghey’s campaign, called Phone Free Education, is backed by actress Kate Winslett.
Sweden is introducing a mobile phone ban in all schools from Autumn 2026, and a ban comes into force in South Korea next March.
The Oftsed chief, a former head, also told a conference earlier this month that he would “ban, ban, ban” the devices if he returned to leading a school.
But Ms Trott said current Ofsted guidance “does not go far enough”. In a letter to Sir Martyn, she said: “I strongly believe that headteachers and school leaders are best placed to make decisions for their schools and pupils. But when we know that smartphone use puts children at risk, it must be recognised and treated as a safeguarding issue, not just a matter of behaviour policy or at school discretion.”
The Conservative MP warned: “The evidence that smartphones present significant and growing risks to children’s safety and wellbeing is overwhelming. From enabling bullying and online abuse, to exposing children to
pornography, harmful content, and dangerous content, these are not hypothetical threats. They are daily realities in schools and playgrounds across the country.”
Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, said last night: “Making all schools smartphone-free is the ultimate no-brainer. Teachers everywhere would welcome an outright ban—it would level the playing field and free them up to teach rather than wasting time dealing with the fallout of smartphones in the classroom.
“Parents are desperate for it too. At the moment it’s a postcode lottery on school policies, and our children deserve better.
“Labour needs to read the room: the public is miles ahead of Westminster on this. Everyone can see the madness of expecting kids to learn with the entire world in their pocket – a device designed in Silicon Valley to hijack their attention.
“This is about safeguarding, not nostalgia. An outright ban is the obvious first step in turning the tide on the phone-based childhood. If we want to improve outcomes for a generation of children, this is a simple, low-cost way to do it.”