Each school should be in charge of mobile phone access - ESC
Parents need to be aware of the risks associated with children’s unmonitored access to the internet and social media on smartphones, the Education Sport & Culture committee has said.
The committee was responding to questions from Deputy Lester Queripel about the use of mobile phones in schools.
In the response, it confirmed it had not considered the question of an outright ban on the use of smartphones by young people under 16, as it was outside the committee’s mandate.
However, the committee does have a responsibility to ensure young people to have a balanced approach to smartphones and online technology in education settings.
Education president Andrea Dudley-Owen said individual education leaders made the decisions about the operation of their education settings.
‘This means the committee’s usual stance is not to interfere in operational matters that are best addressed by education professionals, but it does have a policy oversight role,’ she said.
‘In our role as interim governors of education settings, committee members are able to satisfy ourselves that operational policies and procedures are in place and are being adhered to in respect of States-maintained primary and secondary schools.’
She said that school leaders took a pragmatic and proportionate approach to the use and possession of smartphones in school. In primary schools, if pupils must have a phone, it is handed to school staff at the start of the day and returned at the end.
In the high schools, smartphones must be ‘off and away’ during the school day.
‘It is our view that there is a role for parents and carers to monitor and manage their child’s use of smartphones and other smart devices beyond the school environment, and to ensure that both they and their children are aware of the potential risks associated with unmonitored access to the internet and social media,’ Deputy Dudley-Owen said.
‘We encourage parents and carers to have frequent and open discussions with their children on this topic, and facilitate sessions in schools to support parents to keep up to date in this regard.’
Ofcom research from earlier this year showed that nine in 10 children own a mobile phone by the time they are 11.
