Mobile phones and smart watches to be banned from WA schools in 2020 bid to tackle cyber-bullying

Mobile phones will be banned in all Western Australian public schools from next year in a bid to tackle cyber-bullying and student distraction.

Premier Mark McGowan's government announced the "off and away all day" policy this morning, which will take effect during school hours - including at recess and lunch breaks - from 2020.

Education experts, however, have not agreed with the bold move.

"When we ban people, it actually pushes behaviour underground… This is certainly not going to be helping and it's not going to educate our teens," Claire Orange told 9News.

The ban includes mobile phones, smart watches, earbuds, tablets and headphones, but there will be some exemptions for education use or medical conditions.

"It's about making sure our students are focusing on learning, whilst their in the classroom, and they're focusing on talking and playing while they're on lunch break," Mr McGowan said.

Primary school students will have a blanket ban while those in Years 7-12 must have their devices switched off or kept out of sight until the end of the day.

Under the new policy, smart watches must also be set to airplane mode.

Research in Canada found banning mobile phones could increase performance by six per cent - that's the equivalent of one hour a week or five days a year.

"This is about connection to social media, it's about using your phone for non-educational purposes, that's the point of the plan," WA Education Minister Sue Ellery said.

A number of public and private schools have already introduced the policy. Scotch College banned mobile phones from the schoolyard in 2017.