A headteachers’ leader has said he believes his union is likely to support a ban on mobile phones in schools.

Union bosses were challenged on whether they would support a ban on mobile phones by former schools minister Jonathan Gullis at a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last night.

In response Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that he supported a ban because it would take pressure off schools and parents.

And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, told the event that, although his union does not yet have a formal policy position, he suspected it would come out in support of a ban.

‘Phones causing massive anxiety’

Mr Gullis, a former teacher and union representative, asked union general secretaries if they would back a Conservative motion calling for a ban on phones in schools.

He said he did not want to hear answers suggesting that phones are already being banned in schools, if in fact pupils are still allowed to carry them on their person, so that “at lunch and break, lo and behold, they come out and they cause massive anxiety, massive bullying issues, which leads on to some serious absence problems in schools and behavioural problems”.

In response, Mr Kebede said: “I have said to the secretary of state I support a school ban. I actually think it’s a bit of a cop-out position going for schools on phones, because 98 per cent of schools do have a policy in place.”

He added: “I do support a statutory ban because it takes the pressure off schools and parents but actually what I think the real challenge is is social media and smartphones generally.”

Mr Kebede told the event that young people are spending 35 hours a week on social media and that this content can be based on algorithms, which can show young people extremist content.

The NEU leader suggested banning social media for under-16s and using a windfall tax on tech firms to support work to promote children’s mental health.

When asked if his union supported a ban on phones, Mr Whiteman said: “We do not have a formal policy position yet. We will have and I suspect it will come out in support of a ban for all of the reasons that Daniel has just outlined”.

Phone ban blocked

Earlier this year the government blocked an attempt by the Conservatives to ban pupils from having mobile phones in school.

Labour MPs defeated a Conservative amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would have forced headteachers to introduce a policy that stopped the use and carrying of phones by pupils in schools.

At the time, education minister Stephen Morgan dismissed the move as Conservatives “jumping on a bandwagon”, and said measures were already in place to allow schools to ban phones.

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