By Sophie Soares Bom Jesus

The debate around banning smartphones in schools can feel polarising and extremely emotional.

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From my experience teaching in the classroom, the reality is more straightforward: phones are often a distraction, and limiting their use in school hours, particularly during lesson time, is, in most cases, the right call. However, the keyword here is ‘most’.

I’m broadly supportive of efforts to restrict phone use in schools, especially for younger students. Schools have a duty not just to educate children, but to create the conditions in which learning is actually possible. If smartphones are consistently pulling attention away from lessons, fuelling disruption and making it harder for students to focus, then stepping in is part of that duty.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced first-hand and teachers face every day is competing for attention, and smartphones make that significantly harder. They keep young people checking, scrolling and responding. I certainly don’t blame the students for that - phones are addictive - but it does make the job harder.

Even when they aren’t actively being used, students often seem conditioned to check them: for notifications, social media updates, or, as I heard countless times, ‘just to check the time’, despite a clock being visible in every classroom I’ve ever taught in!

When phones were present, I saw clear signs and patterns of disengagement, and sometimes confrontation when students were challenged on following the rules. In one school with a strict no-phone policy (where parents had to collect confiscated devices), I took a phone from a student who had already ignored a warning. He later tried to break into a locked cupboard to get it back and was aggressive when I intervened.

That particular situation was more extreme, but the underlying issue was not uncommon. It showed just how attached some students are to their phones and how difficult that can be to manage. Teachers shouldn’t be left battling that temptation or negotiating phone access case by case. Expecting children and teenagers to self-discipline against devices designed to grab their attention all day is unrealistic.

That does not mean phones have no place in education at all. Outside the classroom, they can also give students access to amazing free educational tools, study support and learning resources they might not otherwise have. However, that value is not a reason to allow continuous access during the school day, when the priority has to be focus, behaviour and learning in the classroom.

This is not about punishing young people. It is about recognising a basic truth: when something is habit-forming, disruptive and getting in the way of learning, schools have a responsibility to act. In my experience, restricting phones did not make classrooms harsher. It made them better places to learn.’

Sophie Soares Bom Jesus is a former teacher at SimpleStudy - the leading study platform for students

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