As annoying as I’d have found this, and as impossible as it will be to enforce, I think there’s something to it.
mrmystery978 on
Huh thought they already were banned my old secondary school banned them a few years ago
VonBombadier on
Unless kids can be suspended or expelled for refusing to comply it will only apply to kids who mostly follow the rules anyways.
When any destructive little scrote can run to a TD and the school can do fuck all, I don’t know what exactly it will accomplish.
SignalEven1537 on
Only about a decade late to the game
AhhhhBiscuits on
I think its a good idea. I don’t know how it will be enforced.
I can see the difference between kids with no phones and kids with phones. Kid in my sons school has a phone the last two years and he is quiet when he has it, but shows the other kids absolute mad things on it.
Then when he doesn’t have it, is an asshole and bullies other kids (namely my son and another kid)
Its a big distraction. They shouldn’t be allowed.
Now in saying that back when I had a brick phone and shit got bad when I was bullied in school, I brought mine in. Fuckers stole it from my bag. Got it back, called them cunts (in front of the lovely religion teacher) and walked out of the school and never went back until Junior cert 3 weeks later.
Admirable-Win-9716 on
I managed 5 years of secondary without ever using a phone in class and I wasn’t exactly Einstein. They’ll get over it
Gek1188 on
Most schools have a phone policy that forbids mobile phone use in schools today and it’s impossible to enforce.
This announcement changes absolutely nothing. You may be able to suspend a kid for repeated offence but you’ll never be allowed to expel or exclude the kid so it will stay un-enforceable.
DivingSwallow on
I visited a school recently that was trialing this. They had clear plastic boxes attached to the front of students lockers to pop their phone in and lock them. Made sense to me but seemed like it’ll give teachers another thing to have to monitor.
Not sure what happens with students that don’t have a phone or the security around them, but it was being trialed at least.
Are teacher no longer able to take phone off students?
thevoleinthenest on
Stocks in kahoot and blooket are going to crumble…
willielad on
Our secondary school introduced the Ynder pouches that lock the students’ phones for the day. The pouches are opened by big magnets.
While a lot of staff and students were sceptical at the beginning, the difference in the school is huge. Kids were much more attentive and something that was especially positive is how many were more active at lunchtimes because they didn’t have access to phones.
Overall it was really positive
Apollo_Fire on
Realistically she’ll be gone before this ever gets close to being enforced.
Character_Desk1647 on
This is stupid. Prohibition never works.
CupcakeQueen7 on
Had this in my primary and secondary school. Phones were banned in classrooms and if you were caught you wouldn’t get it back until Friday afternoon.
mastodonj on
They are banned. Every secondary school in the country has a mobile phone policy. Some schools are more strict than others with the enforcement tbf.
Horn_Python on
lol in my school they were technicly banned, but the teachers did end up using them for putting home homework and stuff alot
jacqueVchr on
This should be the choice of the individual school, not the government.
Desperate-Dark-5773 on
My sons school don’t allow them but he says everyone brings them anyway. He turns his phone on every 6 months or so. I think just to check it’s still working 😂 Hasn’t a bit of interest in it. Loves gaming though. Would pick his pc over phone any day of the week and it seems most lads his age are the same. Probably just as problematic to be fair
ClancyCandy on
I assume this ban will coincide with massive ICT grants to at facilitate tablets for all pupils?
MischievousMollusk on
Honestly a red herring in my opinion. We programmed games on old calculators. You can distract yourself if you really want to.
mobies on
This won’t in all cases. My Ex-wife and I have shared custody. My kids need their phones to get home midweek when they switch houses.
Liberal_irony on
Hoping to distract from the teachers shortage. You’d be hard pressed to find a school that doesn’t already have a mobile phone policy in place, but this is a soft win for Norma to look like she’s doing something
Setanta510 on
Phones are an amazing creation and my children’s lives are a hell of a lot richer than mine precisely because of them. Used correctly, they are a tool that helpfully redistribute power and access to information. I sincerely distrust anyone trying to restrict access to them and the ‘concerned parents’ making the case for bans are nothing more than useful idiots.
Ireland really should elect better politicians.
Impressive-Dream8929 on
Local secondary school here makes mobiles compulsory for their students, they want all the online integration without any responsibility for tablets, software or monitoring. It’s a disgrace, the parents hate it and the amount of problems it causes.
Legitimate-Leader-99 on
Shouldn’t she be recruiting teachers, absolutely useless minister.
Elementus94 on
When I was at school if you were caught using your phone at all it was confiscated. Even if you were using it at break/lunch time. If caught using it after school you would be told to put it away and likely got a mark in your conduct book.
Didyoufartjustthere on
Camera phones were banned back in the 2000’s completely (which had just come out and most people had) and normal phones had to be in lockers. Guess what? Everyone just hid them and used them in the bathrooms if they need to make a call.
My child’s school has already banned phones, and I think it’s a misguided rule. Why? Because it prevents my child from contacting me in emergencies. This ban won’t stop kids from misusing phones, but allowing basic phones without screens for emergencies would be a sensible compromise.
MegaJackUniverse on
They were “banned” in my secondary school before 2010. How is this going to be enforced? It can’t and won’t be
Jolly-Feature-6618 on
She is completely inept and out of touch. She hasn’t an ounce of self awareness I mean just look at the head on her. She’s like a weird blend of Mary Robinson, a nun and a haunted puppet. This is an already broadly enacted policy by schools.
dotBombAU on
IT guy here. Worked in education for years that embraces technology. Laptops and ‘phones’ are both mobile devices that are interchangeable. The only difference is a phone app is installed by default and most laptops don’t come with 5g sim cards by default (easily fixable).
Blocking access to technology instead of simply managing it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
I did 5 years working for Education Queensland and another 2 in private school education (IT) managing this very thing.
Puzzleheaded-Falcon6 on
Cad é an reasoning behind this ban?
CreativeBandicoot778 on
It’s not the worst idea. There are bans in place in most schools, but like others I’m not exactly sure how they’d enforce it.
My main concern is specific: my daughter has a serious medical condition and her mobile phone acts as a medical device. If she doesn’t have access to it and she has a medical emergency (which can happen with next to no warning and can go from manageable to passing out with seizures in minutes) the school are failing in their duty of care imo. It’s an essential piece of tech for her and in managing a very difficult illness.
EltonBongJovi on
Jack Chambers in drag
Peil on
Phones have been banned in secondary schools since they came out. Expect to see more moronic UK-copied policies from herself and her colleagues in the coming months in an attempt to squeeze out a few more votes. Rolling smoking ban anybody?
UltimateIrish on
Great, ban phones all you want but students will just end up hiding them and using them on the side when no one is looking anyways. Give a rule for students to break and it will be broken.
TheKillerRabbit42 on
Dumb idea and the fossils who support it are also dumb. Seems an outgrowth of parents that spend too much time on their phone at work, at home, at the wheel, projecting their own experience and insecurity over their phone use onto kids. It may come as a shock to some but you aren’t allowed to use your phone during class already, this is simply a headline grabbing, supposed cure-all that doesn’t actually engage with the root problems that this proposal’s supporters claim it’ll help such as bullying and attention spans.
sheller85 on
Why do primary school children have phones ?
sexarseshortage on
That is some barnet.
YoIronFistBro on
In class, sure (and even then, they should always be handed back at the end of the day at worst). Otherwise the schools in this country are already too strict as it is.
43 Comments
Not sure how well this will go down in some homes
Good. They’re a terrible source of bullying.
As annoying as I’d have found this, and as impossible as it will be to enforce, I think there’s something to it.
Huh thought they already were banned my old secondary school banned them a few years ago
Unless kids can be suspended or expelled for refusing to comply it will only apply to kids who mostly follow the rules anyways.
When any destructive little scrote can run to a TD and the school can do fuck all, I don’t know what exactly it will accomplish.
Only about a decade late to the game
I think its a good idea. I don’t know how it will be enforced.
I can see the difference between kids with no phones and kids with phones. Kid in my sons school has a phone the last two years and he is quiet when he has it, but shows the other kids absolute mad things on it.
Then when he doesn’t have it, is an asshole and bullies other kids (namely my son and another kid)
Its a big distraction. They shouldn’t be allowed.
Now in saying that back when I had a brick phone and shit got bad when I was bullied in school, I brought mine in. Fuckers stole it from my bag. Got it back, called them cunts (in front of the lovely religion teacher) and walked out of the school and never went back until Junior cert 3 weeks later.
I managed 5 years of secondary without ever using a phone in class and I wasn’t exactly Einstein. They’ll get over it
Most schools have a phone policy that forbids mobile phone use in schools today and it’s impossible to enforce.
This announcement changes absolutely nothing. You may be able to suspend a kid for repeated offence but you’ll never be allowed to expel or exclude the kid so it will stay un-enforceable.
I visited a school recently that was trialing this. They had clear plastic boxes attached to the front of students lockers to pop their phone in and lock them. Made sense to me but seemed like it’ll give teachers another thing to have to monitor.
Not sure what happens with students that don’t have a phone or the security around them, but it was being trialed at least.
Edit: Seems like it’s not uncommon. Here is another school that did/does it. [https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/healthandwellbeing/arid-40849091.html](https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/healthandwellbeing/arid-40849091.html)
Are teacher no longer able to take phone off students?
Stocks in kahoot and blooket are going to crumble…
Our secondary school introduced the Ynder pouches that lock the students’ phones for the day. The pouches are opened by big magnets.
While a lot of staff and students were sceptical at the beginning, the difference in the school is huge. Kids were much more attentive and something that was especially positive is how many were more active at lunchtimes because they didn’t have access to phones.
Overall it was really positive
Realistically she’ll be gone before this ever gets close to being enforced.
This is stupid. Prohibition never works.
Had this in my primary and secondary school. Phones were banned in classrooms and if you were caught you wouldn’t get it back until Friday afternoon.
They are banned. Every secondary school in the country has a mobile phone policy. Some schools are more strict than others with the enforcement tbf.
lol in my school they were technicly banned, but the teachers did end up using them for putting home homework and stuff alot
This should be the choice of the individual school, not the government.
My sons school don’t allow them but he says everyone brings them anyway. He turns his phone on every 6 months or so. I think just to check it’s still working 😂 Hasn’t a bit of interest in it. Loves gaming though. Would pick his pc over phone any day of the week and it seems most lads his age are the same. Probably just as problematic to be fair
I assume this ban will coincide with massive ICT grants to at facilitate tablets for all pupils?
Honestly a red herring in my opinion. We programmed games on old calculators. You can distract yourself if you really want to.
This won’t in all cases. My Ex-wife and I have shared custody. My kids need their phones to get home midweek when they switch houses.
Hoping to distract from the teachers shortage. You’d be hard pressed to find a school that doesn’t already have a mobile phone policy in place, but this is a soft win for Norma to look like she’s doing something
Phones are an amazing creation and my children’s lives are a hell of a lot richer than mine precisely because of them. Used correctly, they are a tool that helpfully redistribute power and access to information. I sincerely distrust anyone trying to restrict access to them and the ‘concerned parents’ making the case for bans are nothing more than useful idiots.
Ireland really should elect better politicians.
Local secondary school here makes mobiles compulsory for their students, they want all the online integration without any responsibility for tablets, software or monitoring. It’s a disgrace, the parents hate it and the amount of problems it causes.
Shouldn’t she be recruiting teachers, absolutely useless minister.
When I was at school if you were caught using your phone at all it was confiscated. Even if you were using it at break/lunch time. If caught using it after school you would be told to put it away and likely got a mark in your conduct book.
Camera phones were banned back in the 2000’s completely (which had just come out and most people had) and normal phones had to be in lockers. Guess what? Everyone just hid them and used them in the bathrooms if they need to make a call.
“I am not aware of any school where there is not a ban on mobile phone use during the school day”, Deirdre Matthews [said.](https://www.rte.ie/news/education/2024/0821/1466075-schools-mobile-phones/#:~:text=The%20CEO%20of%20the%20Joint,day%22%2C%20Deirdre%20Matthews%20said.)
My child’s school has already banned phones, and I think it’s a misguided rule. Why? Because it prevents my child from contacting me in emergencies. This ban won’t stop kids from misusing phones, but allowing basic phones without screens for emergencies would be a sensible compromise.
They were “banned” in my secondary school before 2010. How is this going to be enforced? It can’t and won’t be
She is completely inept and out of touch. She hasn’t an ounce of self awareness I mean just look at the head on her. She’s like a weird blend of Mary Robinson, a nun and a haunted puppet. This is an already broadly enacted policy by schools.
IT guy here. Worked in education for years that embraces technology. Laptops and ‘phones’ are both mobile devices that are interchangeable. The only difference is a phone app is installed by default and most laptops don’t come with 5g sim cards by default (easily fixable).
Blocking access to technology instead of simply managing it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
I did 5 years working for Education Queensland and another 2 in private school education (IT) managing this very thing.
Cad é an reasoning behind this ban?
It’s not the worst idea. There are bans in place in most schools, but like others I’m not exactly sure how they’d enforce it.
My main concern is specific: my daughter has a serious medical condition and her mobile phone acts as a medical device. If she doesn’t have access to it and she has a medical emergency (which can happen with next to no warning and can go from manageable to passing out with seizures in minutes) the school are failing in their duty of care imo. It’s an essential piece of tech for her and in managing a very difficult illness.
Jack Chambers in drag
Phones have been banned in secondary schools since they came out. Expect to see more moronic UK-copied policies from herself and her colleagues in the coming months in an attempt to squeeze out a few more votes. Rolling smoking ban anybody?
Great, ban phones all you want but students will just end up hiding them and using them on the side when no one is looking anyways. Give a rule for students to break and it will be broken.
Dumb idea and the fossils who support it are also dumb. Seems an outgrowth of parents that spend too much time on their phone at work, at home, at the wheel, projecting their own experience and insecurity over their phone use onto kids. It may come as a shock to some but you aren’t allowed to use your phone during class already, this is simply a headline grabbing, supposed cure-all that doesn’t actually engage with the root problems that this proposal’s supporters claim it’ll help such as bullying and attention spans.
Why do primary school children have phones ?
That is some barnet.
In class, sure (and even then, they should always be handed back at the end of the day at worst). Otherwise the schools in this country are already too strict as it is.