The teacher behind the push to ban mobile phones in Scotland schools and follow England policy

That’s what one Scottish teacher thinks - he wants to see mobile phone use prohibited in all schools, including at breaktimes and lunchtimes.

Adam Csenki, who teaches music at a Moray secondary school, said: “We have anecdotal evidence that when pupils are on their phones at breaktime, they are not interacting with each other. It is difficult to bring them up to be polite adults when they don’t feel they have to put their phone away when they are speaking to someone.”

Mr Csenki carried out a survey of teachers in his schools on what they think about mobile phone use. Seventy-nine per cent said phones were a “distraction”, 62 per cent said they “disrupt learning”, and 59 per cent said they “create conflict between teachers and pupils”.

Mr Csenki said: “Kids come to the music corridor at lunchtime to practice, but then after five minutes their phone buzzes and they stop to look at their notifications.

“They never get down to a concentrated flow of 20 minutes without thinking about their phone. Pupils are not able to focus.”

Another issue is 49 per cent of teachers at his school said phones had been used to film them or other pupils without their consent.

Mr Csenki said: “Teachers in Scotland are going to work every day with the risk they might be filmed and then have that uploaded to the internet. I have had that happen to colleagues.

“Pupils are also filming each other without consent and that is an issue. If something violent is filmed, then it is up there on the internet forever, which is unfair.”

After approaching senior management at his school, who were supportive, but not able to implement a ban on phone use, Mr Csenki submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament.

He is demanding the Scottish Government issues nation-wide guidance on mobile phone use, similar to what has been published in England and in many private schools.

In February, the UK government issued guidance allowing headteachers to ban mobile phone use throughout the school day, including at breaktimes, in England.

Gordonstoun, one of the independent schools in Moray, restricted phone use back in 2017 to evenings only.

At the time, its principal Lisa Kerr said the impact was “immediately obvious”, with the school becoming noisier as children spoke to each other once again rather than scrolling through their phones.

Mr Csenki said this ban should be extended to all Scottish state-educated children so they were not at a disadvantage.

He said: “Why is it that only those whose parents can afford independent school and pupils in England get to have the mental health benefits of a phone-free school day? The kids here are not any different and they deserve the same chances to have a distraction-free environment.”

Almost 5,000 people have already signed Mr Csenki’s petition supporting the idea. Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said she shared his concerns after the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research found the increasing use of mobile phones and social media to be a worry.

She said: “This research found that pupils appeared to be less distracted when they switched off notifications from social networks and apps on their digital devices during class, when they did not feel pressured to be online and answer messages while in class.”

Ms Gilruth said the Government was looking to update its guidance on mobile phone use in schools, which had not been reviewed since 2013. “The Scottish Government cannot unilaterally ban mobile phones in schools,” she said.

“The decision to limit access to mobile phones in schools is a policy decision resting with headteachers and local authorities.

“However, our starting position is that headteachers are empowered to take the steps that they consider appropriate, and, if they see fit to restrict mobile phones in schools, the guidance will support that.”

Last year Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, warned smartphones cause distraction, a risk to pupil privacy and can lead to cyberbullying.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also linked rising misuse of technology to the declining education performances of many countries, including Scotland. The OECD also found 31 per cent of Scottish pupils admitting to being distracted by digital devices in most or every lesson.

In February, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association’s education committee carried out its annual survey and discovered 71 per cent of teachers find mobile phones are having a poor impact on pupil behaviour.

A further 90 per cent said pupils had detachment problems, and 90 per cent also said they were concerned pupils had been messaging during lessons.

The survey reported 80 per cent of pupils were taking photographs on their phones during class, and 60 per cent were worried about social media bullying, with phones in the classroom being a factor.

Respondents said pupils had answered calls during lessons, viewed inappropriate content and had broadcast live recordings of lessons online, and almost all said their classes had been interrupted due to mobile phones.

Association members also said pupils were caught using their phones to play games, listen to music, watch TV shows and even contact their parents to complain about school staff.

Figures from Ofcom have revealed one in five toddlers in the UK now own a mobile phone, jumping to 97 per cent by the age of 12.