Schools across the country have spent millions on lockable phone pouches since the government made smartphone-free policies mandatory last month, but Independent readers are far from convinced they’re worth the money.
While headteachers such as Stockport Grammar’s Sarah Capewell say the change to pupil behaviour has been ‘overwhelmingly positive’, others – including teacher Guy Holder, who has called for an ‘urgent pause’ on the rollout – argue the pouches do nothing to address why children are so attached to their phones in the first place.
Readers seem to agree with the sceptics. In a poll accompanying the original article, 42 per cent said the pouches were a waste of money, against just 23 per cent who felt they’d made a real difference, with a further 27 per cent backing them only if paired with wider rules on phone use.
In the comments, teachers, parents and pupils weighed in with their own experiences of trying to keep phones out of the classroom – and out of the family home.
Here’s what you had to say:
Schools have spent £250,000 and pupils still get round it
I am a middle-leader at a large multi academy trust. We have spent £250,000+ on pouches in the last 18 months. A large number of pupils, anecdotally 60%+, bring in two phones. One is their own smartphone and the second is an old phone they, or their families, no longer use. Pupils will lock their old phones in the morning and use their real smartphones in secret. Pupils find the simplest solutions to circumventing our rules.
In addition, dozens of magnets for opening the pouches have been ‘mislaid’. Many of them have been found in the possession of our pupils who were caught opening the pouches of their friends, in some cases for money. Admin teams are constantly checking / chasing pupils and parents. Parents are fined for lost or damaged pouches and many refuse to pay. Many don’t see the value of them and others would prefer their kids to have access to their phones.
Following consultation, we are now buying mobile phone scanners for all of our academies. Many believe this additional £50,000+ investment is a failure of leadership. The trust doubling-down on an obviously flawed, and expensive system, is a classic sunk-cost fallacy. They believe more money, when budgets are already tight and dozens of support staff have been laid-off, is the solution. The fact that these new scanners can be outwitted by phones that are switched off, or wrapped in tin foil, will be the next problem that will need an expensive solution. A behaviour policy with strict rules and consequences, shared with pupils and parents, that the trust will support academies enforcing rigidly will be much more effective.
Parents need to take responsibility
Outside the school gates is the sphere of influence of the parent. Quite frankly, as a teacher I am being asked to complete several societal roles at once. It would be nice to hear the conversation roll back to: now we’ve sorted out the problems in school, what about you, parents?
I have a son – he doesn’t have a phone. When he is older he will start with a dumb phone and work his way up to a smart phone. Before he gets a smart phone I will sit with him and help him with social media, YouTube and all other areas of the internet from a tablet or laptop. Once he’s capable of using block functions and privacy tools to deal with the troll element online, he can have a smart phone with limited functionality. Once he’s 18 he can make his own choices.
It is a responsibility of all parents to do better here. It is not the role of the teacher to be their parents outside of school hours.
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Students can unlock pouches
I’m a teacher in a school with lockable pouches. The students are very clever and they bring a magnet with them to unlock them. They also have apple or smart watches, so even if their phones are locked in their pockets, they just scroll with their watches. They can text each other with the watches on as well. So if you use lockable pouches, be aware the students easily unlock them or just use a watch as a phone.
Brickphone-only
Many schools have gone ‘brickphone only’, such as The Fulham Boys. Only a brickphone can be brought onto school premises. This costs nothing to the school, unlike pouches. Also, it genuinely protects children.
Not everything on a phone is social media
This is all very well but – hear me out – ‘apps’ aren’t just social media. Their bus passes are sometimes digital and good luck persuading the bus companies to give you a paper one. Part of my son’s language homework is Duolingo – not everyone has a computer at home.
I completely agree they’re not needed during the day. Call the school office – they can also call you. That has been effective for decades, get a grip.
I opted to give my son a phone when he started walking to school. I control what apps are on it and who he can contact, via my device and a PIN which he cannot circumvent. It was very, very easy to set up. At 8pm it turns into a paperweight. We must parent our own child and support the schools, but the genie is out of the digital bottle.
Children will always find a way round the rules
As an IT teacher in London in the early 2000s this is a problem I saw coming. I have more faith in the ability of children’s ability to get round such ‘solutions’ than the ability of the ‘solution’ to solve the issue. Everyone is forgetting too that smartphones are a useful tool that can help education.
Only about control, not improvement
I’m not in school anymore, I graduated four years ago, but I still have cousins and nephews who are in school and they all tell me how much they hate Yondr. I’ve even come across some YouTube videos about how much it sucks. The fact that pouches are posted outside school gates and can “only” be locked or unlocked by teachers or administrators with a key is plain dumb. What if there is an emergency that a parent or child needs to tend to and the teacher is a jerk? You know that’s entirely possible – there are some teachers who don’t have the student’s best interests at heart. I’ve had some.
People have also already found ways to break these pouches to get their phones back. Who’s to say someone won’t start charging students to get their phones out for them? These newer tools used to “improve learning environments” are only about control, not improvement.
My kids still texted me all day despite the pouch
I am in the States – Oregon – and this last year was the first for our school district. Maybe it’s the fact they were seniors but my son brought his home the first day and by week two I put it in the family safe. My son had just been leaving it around the house – they warned us they are $30-50 to replace. This thing sat in our safe until senior check out day.
My daughter? She just kept hers in her bag all year. When I asked them, “what about the new policy? How do they know you’re not complying?” They both basically said as long as you’re not abusing or using the phone when you’re not supposed to. My opinion – it’s a waste of money. My kids still texted me throughout the day but they are smart kids. They didn’t abuse it. They were in some classes and used their phones constantly – basically don’t be stupid. There are too many other issues for teachers to police every pouch.
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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