Ofsted chief backs UK to follow Australia in banning social media for under-16s
The organisation's annual report found social media and phones played a key factor leading to disruptive behaviour
The chief of Ofsted has called on the UK to follow in the footsteps of Australia by banning under-16s from social media.
Sir Martyn Oliver claims the platforms are causing a surge in poor behaviour and school exclusions.
The organisation's annual report published on Tuesday identified social media and smartphones as a key factor leading to disruptive behaviour.
Sir Martyn's report also revealed that the number of children missing from education increased by a fifth last year, which he described as "a scandal."
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He described social media as "chipping away" at children’s attention spans, as well as "eroding the necessary patience for learning and promoting disrespectful attitudes and behaviour," the Times reported.
According to the Department for Education (DfE), the number of permanent exclusions in the 2023-24 academic year was the highest on record at 10,885, rising from 9,376 the year before.
During the same period, suspensions were up by a fifth from 786,961 to approaching almost a million (954,952).
Oliver said in the report: "Disruptive behaviour is a huge factor in these figures: four out of ten permanent exclusions and five out of ten suspensions resulted from persistent disruptive behaviour."
In Australia, social media firms including Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and YouTube will have to take "reasonable steps" from December 10 to prevent children under 16 from having accounts on their platforms.
Asked whether he would support a similar ban for children in the UK, Oliver replied: "I think it is just wrong for children to access social media.
"Most of them have an age limit on them, and most of them just ignore the fact that children actually are using their services."
The report also stated that schools should be providing a "sanctuary" for children from mobile devices.
However, he said it should be up to head teachers to make the right decision for their schools, in line with Government policy.
The report also revealed in autumn last year, the local authorities reported 39,200 children missing education, an increase of 19 per cent from an estimated 33,000 in the previous autumn term.
In response, Oliver said: "How can that be right? How can children missing entirely from education have risen by a fifth in one year?
"If that’s not a scandal of attendance, I don’t know what is."
The Ofsted chief said the problem of absence remained "endemic" in the school system.
He added: "We are seeing primaries getting close back to pre-pandemic levels of attendance.
"Secondary is recovering quickly, but hidden within that is the absolute scandal of severe absence that I’ve highlighted."
A survey by the Children's Commissioner this year found that 79 per cent of secondary schools allowed pupils to bring in phones but said they must stay out of sight and not be used, while 3.5 per cent said pupils were not allowed to bring in phones.
More recently, the DfE’s national behaviour survey found fewer than one in ten secondary school leaders (9 per cent) said pupils had to hand in their phones or leave them somewhere they cannot get at them.
The government maintains that schools already have the power to ban phones and that it supports head teachers to take the steps needed to prevent disruption.