00:01The Education Secretary has written to headteachers in England stressing that schools should be phone-free throughout the entire school day, it's been reported.
00:10According to the letter reportedly seen by the BBC and the Times, Bridget Philipson said it was not appropriate for phones to be used as calculators or for research both inside and outside of class time.
00:21When I was in school we didn't have access to our phones and actually I think for me it would have been more of a distraction to have my phone.
00:28So in a way it might mean less of a distraction.
00:32I think there should be bans in the school but when you're going home to get them back I think they should go in the same place because they're taking no attention at the lessons because they're more interested in the phones which we all know that.
00:46I don't think kids should have phones in schools if what they're looking at is not related to their education.
00:53If it's part of the lesson, which it might be, I don't know these days, then yeah, a useful tool.
01:02The government recently issued updated guidance around phone use in schools stressing pupils should not have access to their devices during lessons, break times, lunch times or in between lessons.
01:13I think definitely when I'm in work now I try and put my phone away because as soon as I open it there's a million different things on it so maybe it's a good thing.
01:21If I had my kids today they would not have one.
01:24The equivalent would be, going back to when I was at school, would be like opening up a comic and looking at that and looking at something that's absolutely nothing to do with the school day.
01:34It follows ministers launching a consultation on implementing an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s in the UK.
01:41The consultation will look at options including raising the digital age of consent and restricting potentially addictive app design features such as streaks and infinite scrolling.
01:51I think it's worth trying stuff because it's, I don't know, it's quite unregulated at the moment isn't it?
01:58Lots of under-16 year olds are probably on and accessing lots of dodgy things.
02:02Do you know what, we should follow Australia to be honest with you because you know what, they're going on things that even we don't go on because it's open to them, you know what I mean?
02:12We should see how it goes in Australia. If it's a yes or no answer I think probably the percentage call is no.
02:23Esther Jai, whose 16 year old daughter Brianna was murdered by two other teenagers in 2023, said that a ban would be a vital step in protecting children online.
02:31In a letter to party leaders Sir Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenock and Sir Ed Davey, Ms Jai said her daughter had a social media addiction and desperately wanted to be TikTok famous, putting her in constant fear about who Brianna might be speaking to online.
02:45Ministers will visit Australia as part of the consultation where a social media ban for under-16s came into force in December.
02:52The government will seek views from parents and young people and will respond in the summer.
02:58We will see you now.
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