Mobile phones in schools: It's the nicotine of our generation, says Scottish Lib Dem leader
Mobile phone use will come to be seen as ‘the nicotine of our generation’, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said, as he made banning phones in schools one of the party’s top priorities.
He described the constant use of phones and social media by younger people as a public health emergency and said he wanted to see legislation to ban it in classrooms.
A city council consultation on mobile phone policy in Edinburgh schools found an overwhelming majority of parents and staff in favour of a ban. But a majority of pupils, while accepting a ban during classes, believed they should be allowed access to their phones at breaks and at lunchtime.
The city’s education committee has already agreed in principle to a ban, but a final decision is expected in June, with a ban scheduled to be implemented from the start of the new school session in August.
Mr Cole-Hamilton has listed a phone ban in schools as a top priority for the party going into the Scottish Parliament elections. He said the Lib Dems wanted to “take mobile phones out of classrooms and put pupil support assistants in”.
He continued: “We are persuaded that mobile phone use, and particularly social media among young people, will come to be seen as the nicotine of our generation. We'll look back on this as a public heath emergency.
“It's clear that when you remove mobile phones from the classroom, as some headteachers are already doing, then you demonstrably improve educational attainment, classroom behaviour and attention.
“And I think we need to legislate for this because I don’t think it's fair to put all the pressure on head teachers to decide. We need to back them up and bring about cultural change as we did with the smoking ban in public places.”
Edinburgh council has been running a trial at two high schools - Queensferry and Portobello - where pupils have to lock their phones away in special pouches. At Queensferry, the phones are locked away all day; but at Portobello, pupils are allowed to use them at lunchtime.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “I don't have a problem with kids taking phones to school and using them to and from on that journey, particularly if their parents are worried about their safety or where they are.
“But I’m sympathetic to the bell-to-bell philosophy which says you don't need your phone at school, it’s distracting and potentially harmful.”
He said the idea of allowing phones to be accessed at breaks could be up for negotiation. But he said: “You want to encourage younger kids to play and freely associate one-to-one with their friends.”
Although he backed what Edinburgh council was doing, he said he thought the Scottish Parliament should still pass a new law on the issue. “I think we need to support councils and schools by backing them up with legislation.
“This requires a cultural change, because if you just say it's a 'nice to have' it won't really happen or potentially slide away.”