Welcoming today’s announcement after engaging with campaign groups, the Department for Education and the Minister directly on the issue, the SDLP’s Claire Hanna MP said that today’s guidance is a step towards protecting the learning environment, tackling bullying and making progress to promote online safety for Children and Young people.

Commenting on the guidance Claire Hanna MP stated

“Smartphones are part of modern life, and are valuable windows to information, opportunity and social connection. While welcoming the potential of technology it is also appropriate to give people, particularly children, space to think and learn without distraction and as such I welcome the Education Minister’s intention to ask schools to give thought to how phones are used during the school day. I have previously engaged with parents campaigning on this in Northern Ireland and had asked the Minister about the position in recent months.

“It’s important that concerns about smartphones don’t give way to a moral panic, but also that they aren’t dismissed. Digital skills are vital throughout the curriculum and should continue to be mainstreamed in the school day but restricted use of handheld devices will reduce interruption, help with focus and safeguarding and hopefully support better mental health for young people.

“School leaders will require the support of parents and the entire school community when it comes to tackling mobile phone use that is detrimental to learning. We know from research that digital distraction is not merely an inconvenience; it appears to have a tangible association with learning outcomes.

“It is important that a range of options have been made available to schools and capacity is recommended for exceptional circumstances.”