For phone-free classrooms, will we have to go hands on?

When school is back in session this autumn term, all campuses in the city of Edinburgh will be phone-free.

By rule, at least.

The reality is that, as with all rules and regulations, there will be those who find ways to get around the restrictions. The city’s chosen method for implementing its “bell to bell” phone ban is lockable pouches, a recent phenomenon in education marketing that sells schools a presumably simple solution to a nagging problem at the low-low cost of – in Edinburgh’s case – £400,000 for starters.

Each pouch brand works slightly differently, though it appears Edinburgh prefers Yondr, the type that has already been piloted at multiple high schools. 

How it works is simple: students arrive at school, slip their phones into the pouch, lock it, and are then free to keep them with them throughout the day. When they exit the phone-free zone, they can open their magnetic pouch at an unlocking station and be on their way.

The pouch prevents distractions during class by blocking incoming signals, and the policy will curb the epidemic of smartphone-fuelled bullying and disturbances that are making school life a challenge for teachers and pupils alike.

Or, at least it will help in some cases.

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It should surprise no one that within hours of the first pouches being introduced to schools globally, websites such as YouTube, TikTok, Reddit and other favourites were awash with tutorials and step-by-step guides for how to bypass the security measures. (Either take my word for it or do some research yourself, because I won't pull back the curtain all the way by linking to any of the dozen examples that come up with a quick Google search.)

This is where the question gets sticky, tricky and expensive.

Every method of deterrent has its drawbacks. The existence of a workaround is not reason enough to abandon the safety tool. We keep our homes safe with locked doors, but there are men in vans who we pay good money for their tools and talents which allow them to bypass virtually any lock on any door at any time. But I don't let the existence of locksmiths stop me from locking the door every night, even though thieves have access to those same tools and talents.

In the same way, if it helps to have fewer phones in class then there's no sense scrapping the policy just because some troublemakers will find a way to break it.

But what if the policy is expensive? And what if every time the rule is broken it means equipment is damaged or needs to be replaced?

"But what if the policy is expensive? And what if every time the rule is broken it means equipment is damaged or needs to be replaced?" (Image: Colin Mearns)

It also begs the question of what exactly is being purchased along with a pouch or some other phone-free tool. 

The closest to a flawless system I've seen still can't give a total guarantee.

My brother-in-law teaches in a major US city, and phones are banned at his school. They have a sophisticated and effective strategy for compliance involving the metal detectors and security personnel used to make sure that no guns or knives make it on campus. Occasionally, a student hands over a broken dummy phone at the door and either sneaks theirs through or insists they don't have another. Then they get searched. Is that what we are prepared to put in place here? Is it worth that price?

If you think so, consider that even in the above example, a phone gets confiscated every now and then. And the result is young students in legal trouble at 14, 15, 16.

If metal detectors and guards capable of a stop and search aren't a guarantee, are we really buying phone-free classrooms when we invest in pouches? Or is another version of the growing influence of EdTech in education, where developers turn a profit by selling a 95% effective solution to a problem, when 90% effective solutions already exist for free.

The cynics might say we're just buying the product itself, as a visual and tangible proof that we're trying something to address a problem that has proven notoriously difficult. 

Fair enough. But if that's the case, are there cheaper ways of doing that equally imperfectly, and better ways to spend money?

As another (admittedly slightly-jaded) teacher friend from the US asked me when I asked his opinion on the situation: do they not have desk drawers in Scotland?