Restrictive school phone policies are not linked to better student mental wellbeing, a study has found, and managing phone use can take schools more than 100 hours a week.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham found no significant difference in measures like worry, sadness and optimism for year eight and year 10 students at secondary schools with more lax versus more restrictive mobile phone rules.
It comes after the U.K. government updated guidance on phone use in schools to emphasise they should not be used, and announced it would launch a consultation on an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s.
The study involved 20 secondary schools matched across key characteristics, 13 with restrictive phone policies and seven with more permissive policies.
Schools classified as having more permissive policies were those where phones were allowed at break times, for example, while restrictive schools were those that did not allow phone use for the entire school day or on the premises.
Schools with more restrictive rules reported they spent an average of 102 hours a week implementing them and applying behavior sanctions if they were violated.
However, schools with more permissive rules still reported spending an average of 108 hours on managing phone use, with more time spent on things like administering policies and recording incidents related to phones.
Researchers said the findings show that new ways to manage phones in schools are needed.
University of Birmingham's Professor Victoria Goodyear, chief investigator of the Smart Schools Study, said: "School phone policies, whether permissive or restrictive, are a huge drain on a school to enforce.
"The high proportions of teacher time spent managing phone use or phone-related behaviors during the school day are potentially being diverted away from other types of wellbeing-promoting activities, such as pastoral support or extra-curricular activities. We therefore need new ways of approaching adolescent smartphone use in schools."
Researchers also said restrictive phone policies save schools some money through the lower time spent managing them – with restrictive rules estimated to cost on average 94 pounds ($128) per pupil a year less than laxer rules.
Senior study author and head of the Health Economics Unit at the University of Birmingham, professor Hareth al-Janabi, said: "While there is a small difference in the resources needed to implement a restrictive policy, we are under no illusion that policing phone use is a big strain for schools and that a stricter policy is no silver bullet."
Data collection for the study took place between 2022 and 2023, before the former Tory government brought in non-statutory guidance banning phones from schools
According to data from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Dsit), 99.9% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools have mobile phone policies in place.
However, 58% of secondary school pupils reported mobile phones being used without permission in at least some lessons, rising to 65% for key stage four pupils.
Schools watchdog Ofsted will be directed to examine schools' mobile phone policies and how effectively they are implemented during inspections, which has been criticized by teaching unions.
Some campaigners are calling for a total statutory ban on bringing phones to schools, while others have championed phones being stored in lockable pouches when pupils arrive.
On Monday, teaching union NASUWT backed a complete statutory ban on phones in schools.
Goodyear told the Press Association, "There is a lack of evidence in this space, and as researchers we are inclined to say that all new policies need to be supported by a robust evaluation and evidence informing that."
