The Government will press ahead with plans to spend €9 million on smartphone pouches despite new research that found banning phones in schools is not linked to pupils getting higher grades or having better mental health, Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said.
She was speaking following the publication of the first study of its kind which found that students' sleep, classroom behaviour, exercise or how long they spent on their phones overall seemed to be no different for schools with phone bans and schools without.
However, academics did find that spending longer on smartphones and social media in general was linked with worse results for all of those measures.
The University of Birmingham’s findings, published by the Lancet’s journal for European health policy, compared 1,227 students and the rules their 30 different secondary schools had for smartphone use at break and lunchtimes.
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A €9 million plan to provide smartphone pouches to second-level schools sparked controversy in the budget as opposition parties labelled the initiative as wasteful and unnecessary.
But Ms McEntee told reporters on Wednesday the response from schools that have introduced smartphone pouches in Ireland so far has been “quite positive”.
She said schools have reported that students are engaging more with each other during lunch breaks and taking up different activities.
“[Students] are more focused in school. I think we need to give it a chance and an opportunity to see how effective it can be,” Ms McEntee said.
The study’s authors said a more comprehensive approach to reducing overall phone and social media use in adolescents could be explored, addressing both in-school and out-of-school use.
[ Smartphones are an easy scapegoat for a more profound unhappinessOpens in new window ]
Ms McEntee also told reporters she had no intention of pausing ambitious Leaving Cert reforms in the face of calls to do so by second level teachers’ unions.
Under reforms due to roll out for students entering fifth year from next September, project work and research projects across a range of subjects will be worth a minimum of 40 per cent.
However, teaching unions want to delay these changes amid “grave concern” that aspects of the plans pose a threat to education standards, fairness and quality.
Ms McEntee said she wanted to work with teachers and principals to address their concerns, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
“I think we all have to acknowledge that we are going through a digital revolution and that technology is here to stay, including AI,” she said.
“While it can be a huge benefit, there can be challenges. My predecessor Norma Foley had asked the State Examinations Commission to look at this in particular and I hope in the coming weeks it will set of out very clear guidelines that will assist principals, teachers and those in the school communities in this area.”
[ Phone pouches: What happens when a school locks its students’ mobiles away?Opens in new window ]
Ms McEntee said supports and resources will be put in place to provide in-service training as well as access to sample exam papers.
Ms McEntee said there is “still time to go between now and when this is rolled out in September” to address teachers’ concerns and to ensure the “positive momentum” around the changes continues so students can benefit “as quickly as possible”.
On the question of schools closures linked to power cuts, she said all remaining schools affected by adverse weather were open on Wednesday, in some cases with the assistance of power generators or alternative premises.
Ms McEntee said she has asked her department to examine its response to see how it can work more quickly to get a better picture of the volume of schools affected and supply generators to those affected.
