In taking a learner-centred approach, UNESCO argue that banning technology from schools can be legitimate if an appropriate assessment reveals that technology is negatively impacting learning and/or worsening student wellbeing. However, the evidence-base and advice surrounding adolescents, smartphones, learning and wellbeing is sparse and contradictory, with concerns raised about the lack of robust research to inform policy and practice. Moreover, there is currently no comprehensive evaluation of the effect of school smartphone policies on mental wellbeing. There is also limited evidence on how smartphone policies are implemented in schools.
Our SMART Schools Study, which commenced in April 2022, aims to address this lack of evidence by determining the impact of school daytime restrictions of smartphone use on adolescent mental wellbeing, anxiety, depression, physical activity, sleep, classroom behaviour, attainment, and addictive social media use. We are doing this by comparing impacts in two different secondary school phone policy contexts: schools that do not permit smartphone use during recreational time (breaks/lunchtimes) in the school day; and schools that permit smartphone use during these periods. The study also considers UNESCO’s learner-centred approach by recognising that smartphone use is highly individualised and contextual. Indeed, the study also explores how variation in school-based, individual, and family/home factors influences the relationship between school phone policies, smartphone and social media use, and mental wellbeing.
As part of the SMART Schools Study, we have observed that the overwhelming direction of travel in the UK is to ban phones in schools. As of July 2022, 90% of a sample of 1,343 secondary schools across England had policies that restrict the use of smartphones during school hours. In June 2023, a further 25 schools in this sample have since followed this trend, changing their policies from permissive to restrictive approaches to the use of smartphones in school. Approaches to banning phones within schools vary, with some schools banning phones on the premises all together and others adopting a ‘see it, hear it, lose it’ approach, or providing pupils with pouches to lock up their phones. Overall, therefore, schools in the UK are following risk-based narratives to ban phones that are portrayed in the media, and to an extent by the UK government, rather than using evidence to ground decisions.
Due to complete in July 2024, the SMART Schools Study will provide new and robust evidence on the effects of school phone bans. Our research with schools up to this point in the study signals that teachers need more guidance to help them tackle the daily challenges of smartphone use in schools. As such the SMART Schools study will also provide guidance on how schools can successfully navigate the multiple challenges that accompany smartphone use in schools.
SMART Schools Study research team: Victoria Goodyear, Amie Randhawa, Rebecca Twardochleb, David Alexander, and Miranda Pallan
