Secondary schools in England are spending more than 100 staff hours every week dealing with students’ mobile phones, according to new research from the University of Birmingham.
The study looked at 20 secondary schools across the UK and gathered information from 815 students and staff. It is the first national study to look closely at how much time and money schools spend managing different types of mobile phone rules.
The findings show that no matter what type of policy a school has, managing phone use takes up a significant amount of staff time.
How Much Time Are Schools Spending?
On average, schools with stricter phone bans spend around 102 hours each week enforcing their rules. This is equal to about three full time members of staff.
Schools with more relaxed rules spend slightly more time, around 108 hours each week, which is equal to just over three full time staff.
The schools in the study were similar in size, with around 1,000 students each, which is close to the average size of a secondary school in the UK.
This means a large amount of staff time is being used to monitor phone use, record incidents, deal with rule breaking and speak to parents.
How Do Schools Spend This Time?
The study found that schools with stricter policies spend less time monitoring phones and doing paperwork, but more time giving out sanctions such as detentions and contacting parents when rules are broken.
Schools with more relaxed policies spend slightly more time overall managing phone related issues.
Researchers also estimated that stricter policies cost around £94 less per pupil per year than more relaxed policies. However, the number of schools in the study was small, so costs varied between schools.
Does Banning Phones Improve Mental Health?
The study also looked at whether different phone policies affect students’ mental wellbeing.
Researchers measured things such as worry, sadness, optimism, sleep and activity levels. They found no meaningful difference in mental wellbeing between students in schools with strict phone bans and those in schools with more relaxed rules.
Earlier research by the same team also found no significant difference between strict and relaxed policies in:
- Anxiety and depression
- Sleep and physical activity
- English and Maths results
- Levels of classroom disruption
Professor Hareth Al-Janabi, one of the study’s authors, said that while stricter policies may save a small amount of money, managing phone use is still a major strain on schools and a stricter policy is “no silver bullet”.
What Does This Mean for Schools?
The research highlights that managing mobile phone use is not just a behaviour issue. It is also a staffing and workload issue.
A large amount of teacher and staff time is spent dealing with phone related problems. This time could otherwise be used for activities such as pastoral support or extra curricular programmes.
As schools review their behaviour policies for the next academic year, this study adds important evidence to the ongoing discussion about how best to manage mobile phone use while protecting staff time and supporting student wellbeing.