The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) today outlined some key education measures that the €9m allocated for phone pouches could have been better directed towards.
While phones are a challenge in school communities, the reality is that schools already have effective policies in place.
Specifically, the TUI has said, the money could have been better directed towards increasing teacher allocations to schools, attracting Irish teachers back from overseas positions or in further enhancing post of responsibility provision.
Comments from TUI President David Waters:
‘It is frustrating in the extreme that the €9m earmarked for mobile phone pouches in Budget 2025 was not directed towards tacking the teacher recruitment and retention crisis or enhancing the pastoral care framework available to students through more posts of responsibility.’
‘The teacher supply crisis sees schools around the country having to limit subject choice to students, and it beggars belief that the required remedies are being ignored.’
‘Specifically, this money could have been better directed towards enhancing the teaching allocation to schools so that they could offer more full-time jobs in a sector where just a third of teachers secure such a contract upon initial appointment.’
‘Alternatively, it could have been directed towards providing a scheme of incremental credit for those teachers currently teaching in jurisdictions such as Australia and Dubai who are understandably reluctant to return home to an education system that does not acknowledge their overseas teaching experience.’
‘Another spending option would have been posts of responsibility. The €9m spend is over double the €4m set aside for additional posts of responsibility across both primary and second level for next year. These posts are critical in promoting student wellbeing.’
‘All education partners acknowledge the various challenges posed by mobile phones, but the reality is that schools already have effective policies in place that successfully restrict their usage.’
‘It is clear that the teacher recruitment and retention problems that have blighted the second level sector in recent years will continue and in all likelihood will worsen as a result of continuing Government inaction.’