Restricting mobile phones in Scotland's schools
The Scottish Government has said it will make a law to restrict personal use of mobile phones in all of Scotland’s schools. This consultation is to inform the development of the legislation.
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84 days to respond
Respond online
Introduction
In 2024, the Scottish Government published guidance to support schools to manage the use of mobile phones in schools. This was updated in June 2026, to further encourage education authorities and school leaders to limit the personal use of mobile phones in their schools. This could include a full ban in schools during the school day.
The guidance is non-statutory. This means that education authorities and schools must consider it but can decide how to apply the guidance. This means that some schools may have full bans in place while other schools may have more limited or no restrictions. Therefore, pupils’ experiences depend on which school they attend.
This consultation document uses the term ‘mobile phones’ to mean personal mobile phones belonging to pupils.