Teaching unions have generally welcomed the social media consultation, but pushed back on the suggestion of Ofsted monitoring schools’ mobile phone policies.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
The Association of School and College Leaders also said the government had been “sluggish” in responding to the online risks posed to children.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Senedd said last year that phones should not be banned “outright”<\/a> from schools in Wales, but that schools themselves should be supported to set and implement their own policies.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> encouraging parents not to buy their children smartphones until they reach 14 years old.<\/p>\n