Dorothy MacGinty

I banned mobiles. Should other heads?

  • From Spectator Life
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In September 2018, I made the decision to ban mobile phones during the academic day at the school where I am head teacher in Scotland. I’m pretty sure we were the first British school to make this leap of faith. It made headlines across the country. How would everyone react? I knew that I needed to explain the thinking behind the decision to convince doubters and encourage support. It wouldn’t be a popular decision, so it was with a churning stomach that I rose to address the assembled pupils, having just pressed ‘send’ on a parent-body email.

Fast-forward to August 2021 and the banning of mobile phones is now part of the national narrative. The Department for Education is spearheading a proposal that every school might be forced to adopt. Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education, wants to push though the initiative. But, perhaps surprisingly, not everyone agrees it is a good idea.

Pupils must learn for themselves that there is life beyond their mobile phone. A heavy hand from above is not the way to do this

You would be forgiven for thinking I am quietly proud of having played a tiny part in the crossbench debate affecting so many of the nation’s schoolchildren. After all, my own experience has been — apart from a couple of instances of pupils waiting to be picked up, unable to call their parents, or rocking up at incorrect sports fields due to lack of communication — entirely positive.

After the ban came in, we immediately noticed that pupils were holding their heads higher and maintaining eye contact. Teachers reported the ‘instantaneous effect’ of returning chatter. Social media ‘withdrawal’ was less painful an experience than we might have dared hope. ‘In just two weeks, the effect has been astonishing. The change in [our daughter] is amazing, it’s like having our own girl back.

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