World-renowned education expert Pasi Sahlberg said banning the devices at primary schools and teaching self-discipline for secondary students was crucial to stopping the damage they are causing to learning.

Smartphones were distracting students from reading, school-related work, physical activity, and high-quality sleep, Dr Sahlberg said.

Teachers Federation Country Organiser Kelly Anderson said smartphones were proving a challenge for teachers, but acknowledged they were now commonplace for students.

“It would be difficult to manage [a potential ban]. Students do need to be able to focus on learning and they should be leaving phones in their bag,” Ms Anderson said.

“Communication for students in regional areas is important but parents can always contact the school office if they need to get a message to their children.”

Readers responding to a post on the Central Western Daily Facebook page were almost uniformly in favour of a blanket ban on the devices in schools.

Kellie Hughes Yes, never should have been allowed to take phones to school in the first place and for the few who have a legitimate reason to do so, they should be handed in at the school office on arrival and collected at end of day.

“What possible need is there for them in school time?” Mick O'Donoghue asked.

Kellie Hughes said they “never should have been allowed to take phones to school in the first place”.

“For the few who have a legitimate reason to do so, they should be handed in at the school office on arrival and collected at end of day,” she wrote.

According to Alex McFadyen, that policy is already in place in some Orange schools.

“Our school hands phones in at the office and they are collected after the bell,” she explained.

“And iPads are docked and left a school so kids can't take device home. Kids don't have individual devices and as a parent I'm happy.”

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In NSW, schools set their own smartphone policy.

Ms Anderson said the Teacher’s Federation didn’t have a specific stance on the role of smartphones in schools but it encouraged schools to manage students’ use of them.

“The emergence of smartphones has added another level of classroom management for teachers,” she said.

“The sole purpose of the classroom is for learning and anything that can distract from that is a problem.

“Phones can be used as an educational tool, but pens and paper are just as important, and phones have the potential to disengage students from learning.”

 Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham recently called for a smartphone ban in classrooms, saying they were a distraction from lessons and a platform for bullying.