The introduction of lockable smartphone pouches in secondary schools in Northern Ireland has reduced smartphone use in schools, according to research by King’s College London. The study, carried out during the 2025-26 academic year, looked at how the pouches were rolled out and their perceived effects on classroom behaviour, academic engagement, participation in school life, and wellbeing.
The Northern Ireland Department of Education funded pilot study was intended to inform future policy on smartphone restriction in Northern Ireland and the wider UK. It used magnetically sealed lockable pouches into which pupils placed their phone at the start of the day and which were unlocked at the end of the day. All secondary schools in Northern Ireland were invited to put themselves forward to be part of the scheme.
Professor Ben Carter, professor of Medical Statistics at King’s College London, said:
"Smartphone use in classrooms has become one of the most visible behavioural and safeguarding issues facing UK post-primary schools. While 90 per cent now operate some form of restriction, evidence on whether more clearer restriction strategies, like a lock-and-store pouch (or brick phone only policy), actually change behaviour, attainment or wellbeing has been limited and contested. This evaluation was commissioned to begin filling that gap."
“Given the evidence of the wide-ranging benefits to schools the Department should consider strengthening its current guidance restricting the use of smartphones in schools. However, it may not be appropriate to mandate a single smartphone approach across all schools. Schools should be allowed to choose from an approved range of strategies that best fits their setting.”
The evaluation used a mixed-methods design across nine Northern Ireland secondary schools, though only eight engaged fully. Researchers tracked behaviours and attitudes before the pouches were introduced and at follow-up points through the year, using online questionnaires on homework, classroom disruption, PE and extracurricular participation, peer interaction, smartphone use, and measures of anxiety, depression, and smartphone and social media addiction.
Schools also supplied half-termly records of exclusions, detentions, CAMHS referrals, counsellor visits and parent visits going back to September 2023. Alongside this, termly focus groups with pupils and staff, plus interviews with school leads, gave a qualitative picture of how the pouches worked in practice, combined with the survey data for a fuller view.
The study found that introduction of the smartphone free pilot was associated with a reduction of smartphone usage.
Teachers reported experiences of behavioural benefits of the pouch restriction policy, and a reduction of classroom disruptions was described, as well as improved social interaction amongst students.
Students exhibited mixed views of the policy. This was reflected in the measures of student mental health and wellbeing – with negligible changes in difficulties, but some decrease in self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms.
Almost all teachers reported benefits of having a clear policy, and the pouch offered a useful focus for implementing changes in behaviour around smartphones during the pilot.
However, consistent implementation challenges were found including: inadequate locking/ unlocking points; damage to pouches; inconsistent enforcement. Many of the challenges reported appeared to be transient and were accepted by students at later timepoints in the pilot.
Student adherence to the pouch policy varied by year group, with younger students perceived as more likely to adhere than older students.
Dr Nicky Kalk. Adjunct senior lecturer, King’s College London: "This is the first evaluation of a smartphone pouch intervention in UK schools and provides promising evidence of educational, behavioural and social benefits. But implementation matters. The report highlights that smartphones had become embedded in teaching and learning practices, used by teachers to facilitate interactive learning, and by students to access coursework and educational resources. Introducing the pouch had wider implications for learning, underscoring the need for appropriate alternative technologies and careful implementation.”
The research team identified several recommendations for the Department of Education:
Staff should role-model controlled smartphone use by restricting their smartphone use in pupil facing areas of the school.
Schools should also consider introducing age-differentiated arrangements as older pupils viewed the policy as disproportionate and incompatible with independent study.
The Education Department should consider how the restriction of smartphones interacts with the use of technology, and the importance of access to alternative technologies, such as laptops or computers, to support learning and assessment outcomes.
The Education Department or schools should consider a standard operating guidance; staff training materials; parent communication templates; agreed sanctions and escalation processes to ensure a consistent approach to implementation of the pouches.
They also suggest that considerations should be made to overcome the barriers schools face to participate in research. A future study during a longer period would allow further robust quantitative data related to educational attainment outcomes: attendance; exclusions; mental health outcomes; long-term behavioural effects; impact on disadvantaged and SEN pupils.
Ends
For more information and a copy of the report under strict embargo, please contact:
Michele Harris-Tafri, Communications Manager, School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, King’s College London, michele.harris-tafri@kcl.ac.uk or ioppn-pr@kcl.ac.uk
Notes to editors
About King's College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
King's College London is amongst the top 35 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2023), and one of England's oldest and most prestigious universities.
With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King's maintained its sixth position for 'research power' in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework).
King's has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff. The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research in Europe. It produces more highly cited outputs (top 1% citations) on psychiatry and mental health than any other centre (SciVal 2021), and on this metric has risen from 16th (2014) to 4th (2021) in the world for highly cited neuroscience outputs.
In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 90% of research at the IoPPN was deemed 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent' (3* and 4*). World-leading research from the IoPPN has made, and continues to make, an impact on how we understand, prevent and treat mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain.
The study was carried out by the Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, at King’s College London.
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Lockable Smartphone Pouches in Northern Ireland Post Primary Schools – A Cohort Study