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Irish Times
16-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Smartphones for children ‘not a human right', public meeting on a ban in primary schools is told
Parents have been asked to sign up to a pledge to keep smartphones away from their children until they have, at least, finished primary school. Some 250 parents from 13 primary schools in North Dublin attended a meeting at the Dublin 7 Educate Together National School where it was suggested that peer pressure to own a phone would be a lot less if parents agreed collectively to a ban. The initiative has already taken place in Greystones, Co Wicklow and in Killarney, Co Kerry where schools have combined to adopt a smartphone-free childhood policy within local schools in the towns. The draft pledge proposed to schools in the Dublin 7 and Dublin 15 areas commits a smartphone-free children for the duration of primary school with the caveat: 'I/we understand that basic phones [call/text only] may be necessary for some families, but smartphones with internet access and apps will be delayed until, at least, secondary school.' READ MORE Pelletstown Educate Together National School principal Caitríona Ní Cheallaigh said a survey among parents locally showed overwhelming support for a ban on smartphones for younger children though parents are divided by the time children get to sixth class. She suggested that it is not enough for parents in one school to ban smartphones, it has to be a community-wide given the interactions between children from different schools. 'We are hoping that this community initiative will enable parents to know that their child will not be the only one who does not have a phone.' Children and Adult Mental Health Services senior clinical psychologist Dr Eleanor Griffith said she has never heard of a parent who was glad to have given their child a mobile phone. 'Generally, they say it is because of peer pressure because their child isn't left out,' she explained. 'We see a big impact on sleep and that has a knock-on effect on their mental health. Young children are struggling to sleep because they are on devices all the time.' Psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor said having a smartphone is not a 'human right'. You have to earn the right by showing responsibility and children have to be given the time to be responsible with smartphone, he explained, and self-regulation of smartphone use for children is 'next to near impossible' when adults are also struggling. 'Bans are not the answer, but they might buy time for children and young teenagers to be ready for it rather than giving them to them when they are socially and emotionally incapable of navigating things like that.' He said that while issues around cyberbullying, access to pornography and grooming often get the most attention around smartphones and children, the effects can be more insidious and widespread. Time spent on smartphones is time that previous generations of children spent with their peers, reading or playing sport outside. 'Teenagers can feel very lonely, empty and a bit directionless because they spend so much time in a place that is so soulless,' he said. 'A lot of the big issues around young people and low life satisfaction are because of constant comparisons and the tyranny of choice.' Parent Fergus McCardle, who has three and six-year-old children, said he is in favour of 'building a collective' around smartphone use. If only one child in a class has access to snapchat, they don't have an outlet to use it if there is a general ban. Claire McInerney, who has two daughters (9 and 14) said she agreed with a smartphone ban until sixth class but there is a 'jump from primary to secondary school and it is a good idea to get them used to having a phone before the end of sixth class so they don't have to navigate all of that while also starting in a secondary school.'
Irish Examiner
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Minister instructs school patrons to review enrolment policies for special classes
School patrons have been directed to review their enrolment policies for special classes following a review that highlighted 'concerning' clauses and criteria that could limit autistic students' access to education. Minister for education Helen McEntee has instructed the school patrons, who are responsible for enrolment policies, to initiate the review after the Department of Education's Inspectorate published its findings. Carried out between last September and December, the review looked at the admission policies of 30 schools, including 15 post primary schools, and 15 primary schools. The review identified issues in 14 out of 15 post primary schools, and 12 out of the 15 primary policies, "raising significant concerns", said chief inspector Yvonne Keating. Some admissions policies required children to be able to participate in mainstream lessons as a condition for admission, while other clauses 'reserved the right to withdraw the offer of a place based on a perception of the student's behaviour.' The review of policies also indicated that many schools use the possibility of a child displaying behaviours that may pose a risk to the health and safety of others as a basis for exclusion from a special class. The report noted that "clauses that use perceived behaviour as a criterion for admission to a special class may imply that children with the greatest level of need cannot be supported to regulate their behaviour". "In addition, it is not possible to predict how children will respond to the structure of the school, the special class environment and to the school's support and provision." The inspectorate also noted that the way in which some schools interpret their responsibilities under the Education Act 1998 is 'leading them to discriminate against those children with the greatest level of need'. 'This approach, which unduly qualifies the right of some children to an inclusive education, does not acknowledge the impact and influence of interconnected environmental systems on their development.' 'It does not recognise how the culture and systems in place in a school can positively impact on children and their experience of and interaction with school.' This qualified approach to inclusion may also not align with Ireland's commitments to inclusive education under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), it added. Multi-denominational schools Meanwhile, school patron body Educate Together has called on Government to act on increasing the number of multi-denominational schools to improve choice for parents. Educate Together is the largest multi-denominational school patron in Ireland, having opened 50 schools since 2013. However, as no new schools are planned to open, it is calling for action on the schools reconfiguration for diversity initiative. Representatives from Educate Together met with TDs at Leinster House on Wednesday. Demand for Educate Together schools continues to grow, but 90% of primary schools remain under Catholic patronage, said Emer Nowlan, chief executive. "The successful transition of the first Catholic school to Educate Together opens up a pathway for others to follow, and there is broad support now for reconfiguration. We are calling on the new Government to proceed with the promised national survey of parents, and to support school communities that decide to transfer, so that more families can access this popular option." Read More Multi-denominational secondary school enrolments exceed Catholic counterparts
Irish Examiner
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Beginner's pluck: Teacher and newspaper columnist Jennifer Horgan
A shy, sensitive child who worried what other people thought, Jennifer started writing poetry aged 10 or 11. 'I was interested in death — my mum's parents had died when she was 12, and I wrote dark, dramatic poems,' she says. 'I didn't read much until I was a teenager.' Considering journalism as a career, Jennifer started writing freelance for the Evening Echo in her early 20s: 'But someone said I wasn't tough enough for journalism, and I thought, I have an English degree, so I can teach.' After training, she moved to London and worked in an all-boys' Catholic comprehensive school in East London. 'It was a deep culture shock,' she says. 'At first, I felt at sea and cried every day. I got lost on the tube, but after a year I loved it.' Care, by Jennifer Horgan. After six years, married with two children, Jennifer moved to Abu Dhabi, working in an international school: 'We had a third baby and came home in 2018. I now teach three days a week in an Educate Together Secondary school.' Also, Jennifer does some freelance journalism: 'I wrote 'Secret Teacher' for the Irish Examiner for some years, and in 2021 wrote a non-fiction book, O Captain, My Captain, on the education system. I now write features for The Echo and a column for the Irish Examiner.' Who is Jennifer Horgan? Date of birth: 1980 in Cork. Education: Scoil Mhuire; University College Cork, English and philosophy; MA in English; H Dip. Home: Cork. Family: Husband Ciaran, children Sam, 14, Anna, 12, and May, 10. The day job: Secondary school teacher, 'and creative projects with the city council'. In another life: 'I'd love a nomadic life; travelling, journaling everything.' Favourite writers: Seamus Heaney; Donal Ryan; Annie Ernaux; Doireann Ní Ghríofa; Nuala O'Faolain; Joan Didion. Second book: 'I'm writing a second collection.' Top tip: Write. 'It's the only way to improve.' Instagram: @ The debut: Care. Doire Press: €16. These arresting, sometimes stark poems concentrate on the vulnerability of people; of kindnesses and slights; of motherhood and daughterhood — and of the challenges caused by the pandemic. The verdict An original and perceptive examination of the frailty of living. Jennifer Horgan will make an appearance at The West Cork Literary Festival on July 11 (
