Phone bans not in best interest of children - Ombudsman
The Ombudsman for Children's Office (OCO) has said blanket bans on phones in schools are not in the best interest of children, adding that it is not an effective way of protecting children's rights from the potential harmful impacts of phones and social media.
The OCO has published a report on phone bans in schools and children’s rights with the OCO’s Youth Advisory Panel (YAP).
Presenting the views of young people on the phone ban in schools, the report, 'One Size Does Not Fit All', brings together key national and international research from a children’s rights perspective on this issue.
The OCO is calling on the Government to consider the impact on children’s rights, including their right to have a voice, as well as the diversity of individual schools and students and the age and maturity levels of children, when rules around phones are being designed.
"Importantly the report illustrates why we need to move beyond an oversimplistic focus on bans to an approach that supports children to competently and confidently navigate the digital world, and that addresses root causes of the challenges children face online," the ombudsman's office said.
The OCO said it is making five recommendations, which it hopes "will be used by policy makers to guide decision making on this issue".
OCO’s head of policy, Dr Tricia Keilthy said: "Phones play a such big part in young people’s lives; it’s how they communicate with each other and share content online and so any decision to ban phones in schools is going to have an equally big impact.
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"It is completely understandable that parents, teachers and indeed Government would have concerns about the negative impact of phones at school, but a blanket ban is not the way to mitigate this risk."
She said the report highlights that this is a "much more nuanced issue" and that the decision to ban phones in schools "doesn’t take children’s views- or indeed their rights- into account".
Ms Keilthy said the OCO held consultations with 29 young people on its YAP, all aged between 13 and 17, to get their views and insight on the ban.
"The YAP told us that banning phones at school can have just as negative an impact on their rights as the phones themselves, and that phones have many other uses at school other than just communication. They told us, for example, how they use their phones to learn, stay informed, look after their health, and even connect with their culture, language and beliefs," she said.
"The young people also describe how they have not had a say in the decision to ban phones nor have their views been taken into account."
Ms Keilthy said the message from young people is clear, adding "we must move beyond talk of bans and adopt a more holistic, evidence based and creative approach to addressing the problems that phone use creates and often exacerbates, both in schools and beyond the school gates".
"In practice this will mean empowering students through a standalone digital literacy programme and creating safe spaces online by strengthening the regulation of online service providers," she said.
"It is also vital that parents and teachers are better supported around the whole use of technology so they can in turn better support the students around these issues."
