Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The one thing we can be sure about is that change is proceeding slower now than it will in the future. I do not believe that we can close out technology and not come to terms with it. The jury is out on whether or not a ban is the way to come to terms with the issue. Technically it is up to each school and this is not a bad approach. There would be issues around banning phones. The teachers' unions raised a concern about enforcement. If a ban is introduced, how will schools enforce it? What does this do for the other relationships they are trying to foster within the schools? While I do not have a closed mind on this, I believe that the current way of a school looking and deciding what is right for its community, its time and the way it runs its appropriate use policies and so on is the appropriate way for the time being. We are, however, open to discussion.

Well-being comes under the social, personal and health education module which goes right up through primary school level, and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, is reviewing the primary curriculum from top to bottom. In particular it is looking at the transition from preschool to primary school and from primary school to second level school, and at how the content should be structured, bearing in mind the journey a child is taking. They will look at the adequacy of the well-being supports for primary school children with regard to that journey in their present situation.

On the issue of banning phones, I am aware that the French education minister has taken this measure. I am not sure how successful it has been. I believe the jury is still out on that. Some people say that bringing one's own technology into the classroom is not a bad element. How much of a child's daily online activity is spent in school versus outside of school? In school time we must give people the resilience, the tools and the respect to use this tool properly.