Teachers were today told to get tough with unruly pupils by forcibly ejecting troublemakers from lessons to restore order in classrooms. New powers to restrain and punish naughty pupils were unveiled by the Government.

Teachers will be allowed to remove disruptive children from class and stop them from leaving, using reasonable force.

They will also be able to search pupils for items such as fireworks, drugs, cigarettes and pornography, in addition to weapons, alcohol, drugs and stolen goods, and ban potentially disruptive gadgets like mobile phones and MP3 players from school premises.

• Comment – click here for Shropshire Star Education Correspondent Dave Morris’s view

They will no longer have to give 24 hours notice for detentions and write to parents in advance of detaining misbehaving youngsters.

And, teachers accused of mistreating pupils will be granted anonymity to prevent their careers being wrecked by false and malicious allegations. Only those facing criminal charges will be identified and prevented from working.

Prosecutors, judges and anyone handling complaints about teachers will be “made aware that teachers can apply discipline in the classroom for the safety of all the pupils in the classroom and in the interests of maintaining order”, the Department for Education said.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the measures were designed to “shift the balance of power back to teachers”.

He said “poorly-behaved children” were detecting “weakness” in teachers and disrupting classrooms to the detriment of other pupils’ education.

Teaching unions welcomed the action and clearer guidance on the use of physical force and stop and search powers.