West Lothian Council faced calls from Scotland's largest teaching union to implement a mobile phone ban across its schools, the day after a ban was announced by the City of Edinburgh Council.
The local EIS rep Heather Hughes said proposals allowing schools to set their own policies on phones in school did not go far enough.
Echoing the call for a ban by the new education minister Mairi McAllan, Mrs Hughes told councillors: “We are not going far enough. Let’s protect our young people.”
She was responding to a report delivered to the Education PDSP raised following a motion to council last November.
The hefty report - more than 160 pages - detailed consultation with teachers and pupils as well as parents and parent council groups.
The clear message from all groups was that a consistency of approach was needed.
The report added: “Consistency was identified as more important than strictness, with variation in expectations highlighted as a source of confusion for pupils and parents and increased workload for staff.”
Pupils did not support a full ban on mobile phones with the majority preferring restricted, teacher directed use, with phones stored during lessons and accessed only when directed.
There was strong parental support for restriction, particularly in primary settings, with most parents supporting the removal of mobile phones during the school day. Parents of older pupils were more likely to support managed or restricted use rather than a full ban.
Staff reported a clear positive impact on learning and behaviour, with case study evidence demonstrating improvements in classroom focus following the introduction of clearer expectations and storage routines.
The report also highlighted equity and digital inclusion concerns were raised across all consultations, particularly where learning relies on pupil owned devices.
There is also clear variation by sector, with primary settings showing stronger support for phone free approaches, while secondary schools favour a more flexible, restricted model that allows teacher directed use to support learning, independence and communication.
Laura Harkins the Digital Learning Manager said: “The national approach will retain an element of flexibility, with schools expected to engage closely with their local communities when considering and implementing changes.
“This work forms part of a wider public health strategy, which will also include measures to support parents and carers and to hold social media companies to account.
“The proposed approach is consistent with these national priorities, supporting children and young people’s wellbeing, learning and digital resilience while seeking to reduce potential harm.
“It does so by strengthening existing guidance, enabling headteachers to develop arrangements appropriate to their local context, and ensuring that considerations of inclusion, equity and digital responsibility are integral to implementation.
“Officers will review any change in Scottish Government guidance and update panel members where there is a deviation from current Guidance.”
Mrs Hughes said that there had been some successes in restricted use of phones in schools such as Linlithgow Academy but added the issue of mobile phone usage was “not just about disruption in classrooms but the harm to young people.”
She added: “The Linlithgow model is very good, very encouraging, but doesn’t ban mobile phones between classroom changes and at lunchtime and that’s when a lot of the harm takes place with mobile phones. That’s when a lot of bullying goes on.
“We’ve got the disruption to learning and I think a lot of schools have got on top of that really well. Teachers have been consistent, but what the Education Secretary was saying was that it’s part of public health.
“It is no coincidence that young people suffer from anxiety and mental health issues; they are admitting to be addicted to the apps that they find on their phones.”
Mrs Hughes added: “It’s not just about learning about health. It’s about stopping the violent content, misogyny; the raise of the far right and all of the other evils that the mobile phones are bringing to our young people because social media are not controlling these platforms.
“There should be not need for young people to have to depend on their own devices. That is a disgrace in what the eighth richest country in the world.
“We are not going far enough, let’s protect our young people.”
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “I think the officers’ approach is the correct way forward. We are in a situation where ministers come along and announce ‘this is going to happen’. Too often we see unsafe diktats coming forward not properly thought through and not take every single issue into account”.
He scoffed at the union rep’s remarks about the eighth richest county in the world, saying “all councils are skint.”
Linlithgow councillor Tom Conn suggested that if a complete ban was implemented young people would “do the opposite”, and that banning phones would not protect pupils from the outside world.
He said: “Misogyny and the far right, that’s free speech is it not? It’s what happens in the real world.”
He cited hearing from pupils at Sinclair Academy who told a recent meeting of the Linlithgow Local Area Committee that mobile phones used responsibly in schools helped with studies.
“Our kids need the balance that’s in the paper. That’s the way to go forward, not with a ban.”
The SNP’s Moira McKee-Shemilt said young people would still be exposed to social media out with schools and supported a need to be more discerning about the use of phones in schools.
Ms McAllan said the government would soon launch a consultation on phone-free classrooms.
Schools have been encouraged to bring in their own restrictions for the next academic term ahead of the law change.
Ms McAllan told Holyrood there will also be new national guidance published by the end of the month to support schools in tackling the “spectrum of harm” linked to mobile phone use.
The West Lothian proposals will go before the Education Executive when it meets later this month.
