There is “incontrovertible” evidence that secondary school students do better academically and socially when they are deprived of access to their phones during classes, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said.
It was announced in Budget 2025 that €9 million is to be provided to fund efforts to keep students off their phones during the school day, including the provision of secure pouches to store the devices in.
Speaking at the Department of Education’s post-budget briefing on Wednesday, Ms Foley said the initiative follows feedback from parents and schools and aims to improve students’ mental wellbeing and their education experience.
What is the current situation?
Schools generally ban access to mobile phones during classes and many require that they are put in lockers for the duration of the school day.
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However, the Minister said she believed there is a lack of uniformity around the issue and that she hoped the funding would allow schools to develop more effective ways of dealing with the challenge. “At the moment students have access to their lockers throughout the day and so they have access to their mobile phones too,” she said.
The Teachers Union of Ireland said controls are already so widespread the funding announced on Tuesday could have been better spent on other things.
Is a student having phone access in school a problem?
There is a substantial amount of research on the issue of mobile phone use in schools and most suggests students benefit from moves to restrict access.
A University of Chicago study found students whose phones were less accessible, for example locked away in another room, outperformed those whose phones were closer by.
OECD research has suggested mobile phone bans are a good way of reducing distractions, but this also found almost a third of students circumvented the rules, meaning implementation needs to become more systematic.
What kind of approach is being talked about?
Purpose-made pouches are the proposed solution under most discussion. The student gets one to keep and puts their phone inside each morning. Students often keep the pouch with them throughout the day, but it can only be opened using a magnetic device, similar to those used in shops to remove security tags, which would be done by a school staff member at the end of the day.
In the US, the pouches are increasingly being used in courtrooms and at concerts.
They are also used in a growing number of schools there. When introducing them last month, parents of pupils at North Monastery School in Cork were told the move would “create a more focused and conducive learning environment for all students” which would “positively impact the overall educational experience”.
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So will all schools get funding for the pouches?
Ms Foley said it would be up to individual schools to decide how they seek to tackle the issue, but she did see the potential for pouches to be far more widely used.
They are listed as costing about €30 per student in the US, but it is hoped a system of bulk buying can be developed.
Fee-charging schools will not ordinarily benefit from the funding, but applications from them will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
