Teaching unions have generally welcomed the social media consultation, but pushed back on the suggestion of Ofsted monitoring schools’ mobile phone policies.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said school leaders “need support from government, not the threat of heavy-handed inspection”.
The Association of School and College Leaders also said the government had been “sluggish” in responding to the online risks posed to children.
Although the government consultation on social media concerns the whole of the UK, its guidance for schools on phones only includes England, as education is a devolved policy area.
The Senedd said last year that phones should not be banned “outright” from schools in Wales, but that schools themselves should be supported to set and implement their own policies.
In Northern Ireland, Education Minister Paul Givan previously advised schools to restrict pupils in their use of mobile phones, and has recently supported a campaign encouraging parents not to buy their children smartphones until they reach 14 years old.
And in Scotland, schools have been given government guidance on setting their own rules, such as pupils having to hand in phones before lessons, or not being allowed to use them on school trips.