Two fathers plan to take legal action against the government in an attempt to get smartphones banned in schools in England.
Will Orr-Ewing and Pete Montgomery wrote to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, on Friday warning that they would seek a judicial review. They argue that current guidance, which allows headteachers to decide how smartphones are used, is unlawful and unsafe for children.
The Department for Education now has 14 days to officially respond to the letter, after which point the claimants can issue judicial review proceedings.
The DfE said schools already had the power to ban phones and it was bringing in “better protections” from harmful content through the Online Safety Act.
A national survey ordered by Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, published in April revealed that 90% of all schools in England have banned mobile phone use by pupils. The survey found that 79% of secondary schools allowed students to keep their phones while banning their use or display, while 8% required phones to be handed in, and 3% stopped pupils from bringing them to school altogether.
The two fathers, who have brought their claim under the name Generation Alpha, argue that smartphones are still being used dangerously and the safest approach for children would be a complete ban on smartphones in schools.
Orr-Ewing said there was evidence that devices were being used to access harmful “very violent or sexual” content or for cyberbullying.
“We know that when children use smartphones they usually don’t do it in a safe way,” he said. “Parents have told us about boys being filmed naked in the PE changing rooms and then shared across the school.”
Girls were “being manipulated by predators on messaging platforms during lessons and in school toilets” and “tiny children” were being shown “graphic pornography” on the school bus by other children, he added.
The fathers said a ban on smartphones was a “no-brainer”, and argued that children should only have “brick phones” to communicate with parents if needed.
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Last week government guidance from the DfE on keeping children safe at school acknowledged that some children might use smartphones to bully or sexually harass other children, share indecent images and access and share pornography. Schools should “carefully consider how this is managed”, it stated.
Montgomery said there was evidence that schools were still not taking the necessary steps to safeguard children. The pair made freedom of information requests to schools in England about safeguarding incidents related to smartphones and social media; one school had passed 55 such incidents to social services in the last academic year, 17 of which were referred to the police.
“A statutory ban would be a huge relief for headteachers and parents alike,” he said.
The DfE said: “Schools already have the power to ban phones, and we support headteachers to take the necessary steps to prevent disruption, backed by our clear guidance on how to restrict their use. We know there are wider issues with children’s online experiences, which is why we are also bringing in better protections from harmful content through the Online Safety Act.”