A LEADING spokeswoman for the region's teachers has called for a ban on mobile phones in the classroom.

Karen Hopwood, of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), has backed government plans to bring an end to "cyber-bullying", whereby youngsters secretly film teachers using video phones.

The moving images are then posted on media-sharing websites, such as YouTube and Bebo. Footage of pupils bullying each other has also been posted on the sites.

Ms Hopwood, who is the union's national executive member for Greater Manchester, sited an example of cyber-bullying in one Greater Manchester school where a pupil filmed a teacher's breasts.

In another school, a trouble-maker deliberately angered and swore at a teacher to make it appear to his parents that she could not control her class.

Ms Hopwood's call follows a speech given by Education Secretary Alan Johnson at the NASUWT union's annual conference yesterday.

He told around 900 members that it was time for the "big" Internet firms to live up to their moral responsibility and stop publishing school videos.

Ms Hopwood said: "The speech was very well received. I believe that mobile phones have no place in the classroom and should be switched-off or confiscated.

"We are here to protect teachers and such footage is undermining and distressing and sends out the wrong message to parents. I find it absolutely abhorrent that there are videos of pupils bullying each other."

Mr Johnson yesterday condemned cyber-bullying and called on websites to take action.

He said: "I am calling on the providers of these sites to take firmer action to block or remove offensive school videos, in the same way that they have commendably cut pornographic content."