Eton College is facing a backlash from teachers after banning students from using mobile phones in the classroom. Simon Henderson, headmaster at the £40,000-a-year school, wrote to parents at the start of the academic year to announce the ban, which he said would be introduced as a trial.

But the move left some of its teachers “spitting” with anger, with one senior master criticising it as “Luddite” and “Amish”.

Joe Francis, an English teacher at Eton College, said the experimental ban caused some consternation among masters who see mobile phones as a useful teaching aid.

“There are some teachers who are absolutely spitting about it,” Mr Francis told The Telegraph. “They tend to be the more techy teachers, maths and science people who think it is a bit Luddite and anti-progress.

“There will be people, older people particularly and humanities teachers, who applaud it. I sympathise with [them] but we have to get across this divide."

Earlier this week, the Education Secretary Damian Hinds said he supports any headteacher who chooses to ban mobile phones, saying that they get in the way of education.

But Mr Francis, who is developing a new kind of education model which will embrace the use of technology, said that mobile phones are an invaluable classroom resource.