Phones will be banned in all Victorian public schools from the start of the 2020 school year, the state's education minister announced earlier this week.

His decision was backed by Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan who encouraged other states and territories to bring in a ban because he thought phones were a distraction in the classroom.

"It's very difficult for teachers to teach when they are trying to discipline against the constant use of mobile phones," he said.

Amy Mines, Headspace community and youth engagement coordinator, backs a ban.

"I don't know that phones have a role to play for young people at school," she said.

"I understand people need phones to be able to be contactable outside our schools but I know there's plenty of schools who have offered safes and lockers to store phones in so they can use them after school."

Ms Mines said social media apps and mobile phones were increasingly being used to bully people.

This is contributing to a spike in the number of young people presenting to Headspace with bullying-related trauma, she said.

"Most of the cyber-bullying we see starts off in the playground and then is taken online after hours," she said.

"Technology has made it harder for people to escape. Whilst I totally agree that there shouldn't be any phones at school ... that's one part of a bigger problem."

She said parents and schools should work together to deal with bullying, and services like Headspace could help families identify signs and symptoms of bullying.

"It's very easy for us to blame the bully, but we also need to look at who was around and who was witnessing the bullying, especially with online," Ms Mines said.

"If you've got friends sending snaps to someone that are harassing and you're sitting by watching that happening then technically you're as bad as the person hitting send."

The discussion comes in the wake of comments by psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg, who led NSW's review into phones in schools, that the Victorian-style ban on smartphone use would be more effective and easier to police than NSW's school-by-school approach.