Mobile phones: guidance for Scotland's schools - updated 2026

Foreword

Smart phones have become intrinsic to the way we communicate, socialise, and work. Their use has intensified significantly in recent years including among our children and young people. There is no doubt that new and evolving technologies can provide opportunities for learning and communication, and it is important that we equip the next generation with the necessary skills, knowledge, and resilience to thrive in the modern age. However, these technologies also bring risk of a spectrum of harms, from issues with sleep, loss of precious childhood time and loss of concentration through absorption of harmful, often violent, misogynistic or radicalising content, to bullying, incitement to self-harm, and grooming.

The Scottish Government has heard directly from school leaders, teachers and school support staff, parents and carers and young people about the impacts of personal use of mobile phone in schools. There is a growing body of evidence, including from the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), published in 2023, and the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 data, published in December 2023, of the distraction mobile phones cause in schools, as well as limiting concentration, and increasing unhappiness, anxiety and isolation.

We need to recognise the negative impact of mobile phones and screen time and protect our children and young people from that. The Scottish Government is committed to a public health approach to tackling online harms. Creating phone-free learning environments is an important part of this public health approach. Where education authorities and schools have taken the decision to implement restrictions on mobile phones, they have reported significant benefits to pupils’ wellbeing and learning outcomes.

Our schools must be safe and nurturing environments for pupils, where they can learn free from the distraction and wider harms of mobile phones. It is important that all Scotland’s education authorities and schools are supported to act in the best interests of their pupils and to support our hard-working teachers and staff to ensure a consistent learning environment is provided to all pupils in our classrooms. Variability across Scotland on this important issue risks letting young people down.

Therefore, the Scottish Government is committed to legislating to restrict mobile phones in Scotland’s schools. While we take forward this legislation and a consultation to inform this, I want to be clear that this Government supports and encourages our education authorities, head teachers and schools to take action now to address the disruption caused by personal use of mobile phones, and enhance outcomes for all of Scotland’s young people.

Therefore, in advance of legislation, I am underlining our encouragement to schools to develop and implement a policy on the use of mobile phones at school which limits their use. As a minimum this should apply during teaching and learning time but schools should consider maximising the opportunity to limit the impact of online harm by implementing a whole school ban. This guidance sets out how this policy can be developed and the opportunities for case-by-case exemptions, and highlights the importance of working with the whole school community to develop a policy informed by children and young people, parents and carers, and school staff.

Màiri McAllan MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic