Commenting on the Education Secretary's letter to school leaders about schools being “mobile phone free” during lessons and breaks, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"Schools have had to deal with mobile phones for many years, so they are well versed and will have comprehensive policies in place. It is clear, however, that schools are now demanding more support. Asking Ofsted to police schools' mobile-phone policies is really not the answer.
"It is incredibly difficult for parents to manage their children's phone use on their own - in particular their use of social media - and that is why raising the age limit for these platforms to 16 is now necessary. Algorithmic and addictive social media feeds should be banned for that age group. We regulate tobacco, we regulate alcohol; we should be treating this in the same way.
"Most importantly, the government should do more to hold Big Tech to account and make firms take responsibility for the harmful content children are exposed to, on their platforms."