Teachers ‘should have right to ban phones’

Teachers should have the right to ban mobile phones from their classrooms, Education Minister Dan Tehan says.

Dan Tehan would be happy for teachers to ban phones in classrooms. Picture: David Geraghty.

Teachers should have the right to ban mobile phones from their classrooms if the devices are distracting students or being used for bullying, Education Minister Dan Tehan says.

The former social services minister, who yesterday oversaw his first national ministerial Education Council meeting in Adelaide after being elevated under Scott Morrison, also backed a push towards each Australian school student being assigned a “single student identifier”.

Mr Tehan said this would give governments the ­ability to better track educational outcomes. “Tracking of students was one of the key reforms (discussed) which will now progress to COAG, to senior ministers, so we’ve made real progress on that and other reforms,” he said following the meeting.

He said an identification number — a recommendation of the Gonski report — would not create privacy issues and would mirror what had ­occurred in universities for many years.

“What it means is we can track a student’s progress throughout their school career, we can make sure that if there is improvement needed, we can put extra focus on that student or we can make sure that they’re performing year on year as is expected,” he said.

South Australia has been a key advocate of the proposal. The state’s Education Minister, John Gardner, said: “It will enable us to have a really accurate understanding about the challenge that confronts us.

“How many of our students are completing high school, how many of our students are on a pathway to employment or higher education, or how many of our students are slipping through the cracks and require extra support.”

Mr Tehan said he supported giving teachers and principals the right to “deal with mobile phones” if they distracted students or were used to bully fellow students.

There are no uniform guidelines on the use of mobile phones in schools. NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes commissioned a review into mobiles phones in schools. It is being led by child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg. “Schools need to have better rules in place around phones,” Mr Stokes said.

Australian Education Union national president Corenna Haythorpe said smartphones should not be unfairly targeted: “It’s much more productive to actually teach students how to use them.”