Students’ sense of wellbeing and belonging to school in Ireland has declined significantly over the past decade at the same time that smartphone use has increased, a conference on education has heard.
Prof Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish education expert, author and professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, noted that students’ sense of wellbeing at second level has declined in Ireland and elsewhere over the past 10 to 15 years.
In addition, the sense of belonging in school among 15-year-olds declined significantly in Ireland between 2003 and 2022, by a margin well in excess of the average for most other developed countries based on data collected by the OECD for its international Pisa rankings.
Over the same time, he said, research in Ireland and elsewhere shows students are spending up to eight hours a day on digital devices such as smartphones amid evidence that it is disrupting young people’s sleep or distracting them from teaching and learning.
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He said research had yet to point to a definitive link, but he said it was a “logical” to assume many trends around wellbeing and engagement were linked to wider use of smartphones and social media among young people.
Prof Sahlberg endorsed the findings of a UN report last year which recommended that smartphone use in schools should be restricted to tackle classroom disruption, improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying.
Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, said there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance and that high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children’s emotional stability.
The agency said digital technology, including artificial intelligence, should always be subservient to a “human-centred vision” of education, and never supplant face-to-face interaction with teachers.
Prof Sahlberg was speaking at a symposium held in Dublin on Thursday which focused on the impact of leadership and effective schools. The event was organised by the National Association of Principals and Deputies (NAPD) and Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN).
He added that he was a “big fan” of Irish education and Ireland was a strong performer due, in part, to the quality of teacher education, the leadership of principals and the relatively small size of the system.
However, he said the system faces significant challenges over the next five to 10 years in responding to issues around technology, student engagement and assessment, which were also global issues.
Paul Crone, director of the NAPD, told the gathering that urgent changes were also needed such as reforming the CAO points system and providing more creative ways of assessing second level students.
Mr Crone said such changes could open the way for redeveloping senor cycle and allows for more creativity in assessment approaches in order to meet the needs of all of our students.
“Critically, the most important issue to allow us to deliver for our students is to reimagine the leadership in our schools,” he said.
“We need to find a mechanism to remove the administrative burden on school leaders to allow them to prioritise the leading of the teaching and learning in the school. Health and Safety, procurement, plant management, human resourcing, financial management are among the tasks that do not need to be done by the principal.”
He said the future of how we assess students at the end of senior cycle and how students advance to higher and further education must be part of much wider discussion.
Mr Crone called on the Government to confirm a date for a planned Citizens’ Assembly on the future of education.
“The Citizens’ Assembly on drugs finished its work almost three months ago. To our disappointment, we are still awaiting an update regarding the future of education forum will convene,” Mr Crone said.
“Until this happens, our concern is that the urgency behind senior cycle reform will continue to drift, and ultimately, it is the students that pay the price.”
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