Meeting of the Parliament 25 March 2026 [Draft]
We have looked at the issue of mobile phones, and I have been clear about the damaging effects that I think that they have in the classroom. However, we need to broaden the debate slightly. We see the roll-out of digital devices in the school environment, and there are big questions about whether children, and which age group, should be using those devices, and how they should do so.
On Monday, I met with a group called Unplug.Scot, because in Fife there has been an accelerated roll-out of digital devices from primary 5 onward. The group is deeply concerned about a number of practical things; I will go through some of those first and then go on to the wider issues around the use of digital devices and mobile phones.
Unplug.Scot is concerned, first and foremost, about parental consent, because parents are being encouraged—and almost coerced—into signing a form to say that their child can bring their digital device home. Parents have no choice about whether those devices will be used in the classroom, but they have an option to sign to bring them home. If they refuse to sign, they are warned that their child might lose out, with no justification as to how they are going to lose out or what other steps will be taken to make sure that they do not lose out.
The group is concerned that there is no equality impact assessment on the roll-out of these devices, and it is not convinced about the robustness of the filters that are used on them or whether virtual private networks can be used to circumvent those devices, too.
Those are some of the group’s practical concerns, but it has a wider concern about the evidence that has been drawn on to justify the roll-out of these devices.
I have pursued the matter with Fife Council on a number of occasions and it is quite firm that it believes that there are some significant advantages. However, that has to be countered with the experience of countries such as Sweden, which has decided to roll back the use of these devices and return to physical books, because there have been concerns about the impact on learning and performance in the Swedish education system. Equally, we have heard education leaders across the United Kingdom express such concerns.
To return to the situation in Fife, the education director is clear that, having looked at what has happened in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in the Borders, they see a significant improvement in performance in areas such as maths if the use is limited to an hour. I think that there are, again, questions about exactly how much these devices are used. They can also provide instant feedback and make sure that parents are able to see instantly how their child is performing at school with the portfolio system that is in place.
All of that should be thoroughly investigated before we take any legislative steps to control the use of mobile phones.