Schools should be ordered to outlaw mobile phones from classrooms, the Conservatives said today. Headteachers in the West Midlands are currently allowed to make up their own policy on pupils carrying mobile phones.

While some outlaw them outright, others have more relaxed rules. The Tories say an outright ban will beef up discipline and see authority return to the teachers. Conservatives are concerned about the disruptive effects phones have both in and outside of lessons and the rise in text bullying and happy slapping.

In Wolverhampton, education boss Councillor Christine Irvine said the policy on mobile phones was down to each individual school.

She said: “Wolverhampton schools manage mobile phones responsibly and they are generally not used in school hours.

“I know some people would like to see them handed in at the school office at the beginning of the day but there are parents who like their children to have access to a phone for safety reasons.” 

In Walsall, pupils at Queen Mary’s High, in Upper Forster Street, are allowed to bring mobile phones to school but must keep them in their lockers during lesson time.

Deputy headteacher Veronica Simpson said: “The girls can have access to their phones during break and lunchtimes only.”

Staffordshire County Council also does not have a fixed policy on mobiles.

Spokesman Tim Ash said: “As mobile use can vary wildly between different schools and different areas, headteachers and governing bodies are encouraged to set their own policy which is appropriate to their school.”

The Tory’s shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said: “We must do more to tackle the problems of poor discipline and high rates of truancy if the opportunities of education are to be open to all. The balance has to shift back in the classroom in favour of the teachers.”

But Schools Secretary Ed Balls has criticised the plans saying the proposals were “nothing new”.