That concludes our live coverage today of new guidance issued to schools in Northern Ireland on the use of smartphones by pupils.

Here's a quick reminder of what happened today:

• The Education Minister Paul Givan announced guidance for schools that pupils should not be accessing smart devices during the school day
• Speaking on the BBC's Talkback programme, the minister said the policy was "evidence-based" and designed to protect children's welfare, ensure they are focused during class, and socialising during break and lunch
• The guidance has been welcomed by some principals and teachers
• Schoolchildren that the BBC spoke to had mixed reactions, some admitted that their phones are a distraction during school, while others said there was no harm in looking at it outside of class time

You can scroll back on this page for a full look at our coverage.

For more on this story, click here.

Image source, Getty Images

The live page today was edited by Matt Fox with additional reporting by Finn Purdy, Andrew McNair and Barry O'Connor

Kerry has been talking about the rules in Bangor Academy, she says: “I think they’re pretty relaxed.

"Were allowed to have our phones out at break and lunch and contact our friends at break and lunch, then during class we have to keep them away. But we can bring them out for assignments or research tasks.

“I think some students sit on their phone a lot during lunch and maybe they might socialise more if they weren’t sitting on their phones.”

Samantha adds: “I use my phone quite a lot - just texting people, checking things on Instagram.

“I would say that it’s only really restricted when we’re in class. When we’re out of class, say at lunchtime and break time, we’re allowed to use it freely.”

The minister says children are using smart devices for too long every day, and this is impacting their performance in school.

"Evidence shows young people around this age are [online] for seven hours plus. They're coming into school exhausted, they're tired," he says.

Mr Givan says he understands that parents feel its "safer to have our children in the house where they're in a controlled environment."

He adds: "We've given them smartphones where there is far more risk online, than there is in the real world.

"As parents we've been told we're doing the right thing, and now we're having to challenge ourselves based on the emerging evidence."

Sixth-form students from Bangor Academy have been reacting to the news about new guidelines on the use of mobile phones in schools.

Fletcher says: "I would use my phone to find my friends or contact my family or just check the time generally to see if you’re late for class.

“If I’m doing something I really like or it’s really interesting I wouldn’t have a second thought about my phone.

“Outright banning your phone could tempt some students to look at it more.”

Luke adds: “I definitely find that during class when I’m going into Google Classroom you might get a notification or get a bit distracted on your phone. It’s a hard temptation to resist.

“I definitely feel like some restrictions are necessary but giving pupils the option definitely appeases it.

“Sometimes even when you go into the canteen you see people just sat on their phones, not communicating or socialising.”

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Education Correspondent

At Londonderry’s Lisneal College there are already strict rules on pupil’s use of mobile phones.

Pupils hand their phones to their form teacher in the morning, getting it back at the end of the day.

Principal Michael Allen told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme the rules encouraged learning and kept pupils safe from online harm while at school.

“If you can imagine sitting in a classroom with a mobile phone in your pocket, even if that phone is never out, and that mobile phone buzzes, rings, chimes…

"No matter how focused you are as a student, whether you decide to take that phone out and look which some pupils may do, or even if you don’t, you spend the next two or three minutes thinking ‘who was that? I wonder who wants me?’.

That scenario, he said, could play out more than 30 times per day for each pupil.

Lauren is a pupil at Dalriada School in Ballymoney and is president of the Secondary Students’ Union NI.

She told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme she understands that finding a balance “can be very difficult to do.” At her school pupils do have access to their phones.

“You can check your phone occasionally but not during class times, not when the teacher is talking,” she says.

“I find that when I go home and obviously have unlimited access to my phone and those notifications are coming through constantly… because in school we have always had that very balanced approach that has allowed me to understand that when I go home I should develop the same strategy and the same approach.”

Dr Peter Cosgrove from the SmartPhone Free Childhood Movement says the issue of smartphones in schools is correctly identified in the new guidance as "belonging to the remit of safeguarding and pastoral care".

"Everyone is waiting for someone else to take a step, teachers want guidance, parents want the teachers to show them, and everyone is kind of looking at each other," he says.

He says the policy announced today "breaks the ice" and "allows conversation to happen".

The pastoral vice principal at Belfast Boys' Model, Judith McCracken, says there is a responsibility for teachers and school staff to "lead by example" by not using phones during the school day.

"We can't tell the children to do something if we're not doing it ourselves. There's a learning point for everybody involved in schools," she says.

"I see there are concerns about how we implement this but basically it's about a consistent approach."

Claire Hanna says that today’s guidance is a step towards protecting the learning environment, tackling bullying and making progress to promote online safety for Children and Young people.

"Smartphones are part of modern life, and are valuable windows to information, opportunity and social connection," the SDLP MP says in a statement.

Image source, PA Media

The DUP's Peter Martin has also welcomed the minister's guidance for schools on the use of mobile phones.

The North Down MLA says: "This is a positive step forward by the minister and it is an example of policy following the evidential base to help pupils and the wider school environment.

Also speaking on Talkback, Cathal O'Doherty, the principal of St Clare’s Primary School and Nursery says: "I very much welcome what the minister has said today".

He says it's important to educate parents on the use of smartphones in schools.

Mr O'Doherty adds that if parents need to contact their child they can do so by ringing the school or through apps that allow teachers to post update to parents.

Mr Givan says that school outings are a "pretty safe environment" where there is no need for children to have their phones with them.

He says that his generation became "so safety conscious" which he says is a good thing but means that children are not being "exposed to safe levels of activity".

Asked about situations where children might want to use their phones to take photos on trips, he says there will always be cases of "what if" but adds that we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

He says it's about establishing a "general principle" but there "will be exceptionality".

He says he trusts principals and teachers to know when these circumstances arise, citing the example of a family bereavement.

The minister has proposed a pilot scheme using magnet pouches for smartphones.

He says: "There is evidence to suggest that just having the phone on your person can be distractive."

Magnetic pouches work by locking the phone inside a pocket which only the teacher can unlock.

"I'm going to invite 10 schools to come forward, I will fund the purchase of the pouches, and that would take this implementation to a level where were not constantly worrying about the enforcement because they're magnetically sealed."

Image source, The John Wallis Academy

Asked whether teachers will have legal protection to search pupils and seize devices where they refuse to hand them over, the minister says its about "embedding a culture".

"The idea that I am going to expect a principal to set up some kind of search facility as though you're going into Maghaberry prison and we need to protect some prohibited item, that is not what I am expecting."

However, he says he will support schools in policies of confiscating phones.

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Education Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

While the guidance is not legally binding, schools will be expected to observe it in drawing up their own rules.

Some schools already have policies in place that restrict mobile phone use by pupils.

In many cases, pupils can bring a phone to school, but they must not be visible during the school day.

That means pupils cannot take them out during classes unless they are part of a lesson, or use them at break or lunchtimes.

In some cases, if a pupil is caught using a phone, it is confiscated, and the pupil can collect it at the end of the school day.

You can read more of Robbie Meredith's analysis on this story here.

The minister suggests the guidance has "legal force behind it".

Paul Givan says it is covered by legal obligations for schools to make sure "there is framework in place for the welfare of their pupils, and mobile phones will fall within that so it is more than just guidance."

He adds that he would be very surprised if schools chose to go against the new guidance on banning smart devices in school.

The minister confirms that smartwatches and other devices are also included within the remit of the guidance.

Mr Givan says he used to have an Apple Watch "because I thought it was the cool thing to do".

"The numbers of notifications that were coming through despite my best efforts to disable that was distracting for me."

He says that kids in school don't need this kind of distraction in school.

Image source, Getty Images

The education minister says there are three reasons for introducing the policy.

• Welfare protection issues: "If you don’t have a safe school environment you’re not going to be able to learn. Online bullying takes place, it happens in our schools and I am concerned about that."
• Educational attainment: "Our teachers are our most important assets in schools. If a mobile phone goes off that is disruptive. Then they’re not learning and that impacts on educational attainment."
• Relationships: "I want to have our corridors buzzing with young people engaging with each other, and smartphones swallow up our young people into a black hole. Those who already struggle to have relationships, they’re the ones who it impacts the most."

The Welsh government says that mobile phone policy it is a matter for individual schools to decide.

In England and Scotland Westminster and the Scottish governments have issued guidance on limiting the use of phones during the school day.

Like the planned proposals for Northern Ireland though, it is just guidance, and not legally required.

Image source, Getty Images

In England the guidance offers suggestions on how to crackdown on mobile phone use in schools, ranging from a complete ban on bringing mobile phones to school, to schools allowing pupils to keep their phones during school as long as they are not seen or heard throughout the day.

In Scotland the guidance suggests pupils could be required to hand over devices before classes or be banned from using them on school trips.

For now the issue remains one for individual schools to decide on across the UK, and most have their own policies prohibiting use of mobile phone to some extent.

Mr Givan says that the guidance takes an "evidence-based approach" to the issue of smartphones in schools.

He says that while there is a place for "appropriative use of technology" and some "special circumstances" including medical conditions and learning difficulties, pupils in general should not be accessing phones during the school day,

He says that in primary schools phones "shouldn't come in at all" and in post-primary where kids bring phones in they shouldn't access them at all, including during break and lunch.

Image source, PA Media

Paul Givan is one of the senior members of the DUP’s team in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He has been the MLA for Lagan Valley since 2010 and has been an executive minister since 2016.

He has served as Minister of Education since 3 February 2024.

Mr Givan was previously the First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022 until he announced his resignation as part of DUP protests against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In the process he became the shortest serving First Minister in Northern Ireland, having spent 231 days in office.

At age 39, Mr Givan was the youngest First Minister in Northern Ireland's history.