Position: The Proposed Ban on Smartphones (DRAFT)
This document is a DRAFT for consultation and discussion purposes only and should not be interpreted as official policy or an endorsed position of APHE.
Introduction
In April 2025, the results of the first national survey into smartphone use in schools were published, confirming what many educators had already observed: a near-total ban is now in effect. According to data gathered by the Children’s Commissioner for England, 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools have instituted restrictions or outright prohibitions on student phone use during school hours. Backed by growing public concern about online harm, distraction, and the influence of social media on mental health, these bans are being implemented swiftly and with wide political support.
The leader of the UK’s largest education union, Daniel Kebede, has publicly supported a statutory national ban, citing the rise of harmful content, including violent pornography, as a threat to children’s wellbeing. His remarks have marked a shift from defending school autonomy to calling for government-led regulation. At the same time, the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, declared that phones have “absolutely no place in classrooms,” and committed to ensuring a “phone-free” environment in every school.
This growing consensus may appear well-intentioned, and in many respects it is. Concerns about safeguarding, mental health, and screen dependency are real. However, such blanket bans risk serious unintended consequences, particularly for subject areas like photography where smartphones are not the problem, but a fundamental part of the solution.
Photography education relies on smartphones not just as cameras, but as editing suites, visual journals, communication tools, and cultural gateways. In some institutions, especially in further education or community settings, they may be the only photographic device students can access. Their removal, if applied without context or exception, threatens to narrow the curriculum, marginalise disadvantaged students, and reduce photography to a technical exercise devoid of cultural, ethical, and contemporary relevance.
This DRAFT position paper from the Association for Photography in Higher Education (APHE) sets out to articulate the essential role smartphones play in photographic learning, and to offer constructive, responsible alternatives to a blanket prohibition. Our goal is not to ignore the legitimate concerns of school leaders, safeguarding officers, or policymakers, but to argue for a more nuanced, subject-sensitive approach—one that protects young people while still empowering them to engage critically, creatively, and ethically with the visual culture of their time.
The Smartphone as a Pedagogical Tool
In photography classrooms, smartphones are used in ways that extend far beyond simple image capture. Their role is integral to nearly every stage of the creative process.
Students use their phones to collect visual references, document ideas, and experiment with framing and light. Many use editing apps to explore post-production techniques and to understand the effects of filters, colour grading, contrast adjustments, and cropping—all essential elements in photographic decision-making. The immediacy of this process enhances learning. Feedback can be given on the spot. Iteration becomes fluid and intuitive.
Equally important is the way smartphones support visual thinking. Students often use them to create digital sketchbooks or visual journals, combining photographs, screenshots, annotations, and moodboards. The smartphone becomes a portable space for reflection and creative development—a pocket-sized studio where technical control and aesthetic intention come together.
Importantly, the smartphone also connects students to wider photographic culture. Through platforms such as Instagram, VSCO, or TikTok, they engage critically with questions of authorship, audience, and impact. These platforms are not distractions in and of themselves; rather, they are the new arenas of visual storytelling, activism, and identity construction. To remove the tools by which students access and participate in this world is to sever their link to the most relevant contemporary photographic discourse.
Real-World Applications in the Curriculum
Within the curriculum, smartphones enable students to explore a range of genres and techniques. In street and documentary photography, for example, the compactness and discretion of a phone allows students to move through public spaces without the intimidation of a large DSLR. This encourages spontaneity, responsiveness, and ethical reflection on how they approach and photograph people and environments.
In more experimental contexts, students can explore image-making through photogrammetry apps or camera-based scanning. The smartphone’s limitations—such as fixed focal lengths and digital noise—become part of the aesthetic language, inviting discussions around lo-fi practices and alternative visual cultures.
Group feedback is also transformed by the smartphone’s presence. Students can share images instantly, compare edits, and respond visually to one another’s work. This facilitates collaborative learning and strengthens visual literacy. Rather than waiting for computer lab access or formal critiques, students engage in ongoing visual dialogue—mirroring professional creative practices.
Questions of Equity and Access
The banning of smartphones also raises important questions about equity. For many students, particularly those from lower-income backgrounds, the smartphone may be their only photographic device. Removing its use creates a two-tier classroom, privileging those who can afford dedicated cameras or editing software and penalising those who cannot.
In addition, smartphones often support accessibility for students with special educational needs. Voice commands, magnification tools, and captioning features enable more inclusive participation. To prohibit these tools in a blanket fashion, without regard for context, is to risk excluding the very students educational institutions are meant to support.
Addressing Safeguarding and Behaviour Concerns
APHE recognises the serious safeguarding and behavioural challenges that smartphones can present. Misuse is a real concern, and schools and colleges must be vigilant. However, a distinction must be made between unregulated personal use and structured educational use.
Rather than bans, institutions should consider context-specific acceptable use policies. Phones can be used only during photography lessons, under supervision, with clear rules for sharing and storage. Departments can also explore the use of shared or locked-down devices that allow students to photograph and edit without internet access or messaging capability.
Photographic education is itself an opportunity to teach digital ethics. Questions of consent, surveillance, privacy, and manipulation are not external to the subject—they are central to it. Educators are well placed to guide students through these issues, using the smartphone as a means of raising awareness rather than as a threat to be removed.
Recommendations
APHE recommends the following actions to school and college leaders:
Recognise photography as a subject with specific technological and pedagogical needs, and consult with educators before introducing universal digital restrictions.
Support teachers with guidance and CPD opportunities on the creative, ethical, and structured use of smartphones in the classroom.
Provide alternatives where personal phones are prohibited—such as school-owned smartphones with limited functions or budget compact cameras.
Develop acceptable use agreements tailored for photography lessons, supported by clear safeguarding practices and supervision.
Embed visual digital citizenship within the curriculum, using smartphone photography as a means of exploring both creative expression and social responsibility.
Conclusion
The smartphone has become the most widely used camera in the world. Its cultural, creative, and educational significance cannot be overstated. In banning its use without consideration for subject-specific needs, institutions risk not only undermining the quality of photographic education, but also alienating students from the very tools they need to engage critically with their world.
APHE stands in support of photography educators who seek to use smartphones responsibly and meaningfully in their teaching. We call on institutions to adopt policies that balance safeguarding with educational purpose, ensuring that photography remains a vibrant, inclusive, and forward-looking subject in our schools and colleges.
Dr Graham Wilson is a Departmental Tutor in Psychology and Counselling at the University of Oxford, the author of a number of Psychology, Photography, and Organisational Behaviour textbooks, and a member of the APHE executive committee.
