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Banning mobiles can improve exam results by up to 14 per cent, researchers claim

Handheld devices
Schools that have banned the use of mobile phones by students have seen “significant increases” in examination outcomes – most notably for disadvantaged and underachieving pupils – a research paper has found.

The research, published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is based on investigations and analysis at 91 secondary schools in Birmingham, London, Leicester and Manchester.

There is no national policy for mobile phone use in schools, meaning a plethora of different approaches exist. 

This fact has enabled researchers Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy to compare the gains in test scores across and within schools before and after mobile phone bans were introduced.

Of the 91 schools, the first mobile phone bans were introduced in 2002. By 2007 almost half of the schools had bans in place, with 90 of the schools having introduced bans by 2012.

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