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The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Team
Closed petition PE2106: Prohibit mobile phone use in Scottish schools
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to update guidance on mobile phones in schools to require all schools to prohibit the use of mobile phones during the school day, including at interval and lunchtime.
Background information
There is a greater recognition of the harm of mobile phone use in schools, shown by a growing number of Scottish independent schools and some state schools prohibiting their use.
Government-led guidance prohibiting the use of phones during the school day has been introduced in France and England.
In a May 2024 staff survey in a high school in Moray:
79% said phones are a distraction to pupils
62% said misuse of phones disrupts learning
59% said phones create conflict between teachers and pupils
49% said phones are used to film teachers and pupils without consent.
Staff have written of the pull of the online world which is always on in a child’s pocket leading to severe loss in focus, the hostility with which teachers are met when attempting to challenge inappropriate phone use, and also of having to work with the fear of being filmed without permission and the footage uploaded onto the internet.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
7,250 signatures