School devices: Parents feel ‘press-ganged into something we don’t want and can’t afford’

Shortly before schools rose for the summer, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton wrote to principals raising concern about the costs parents were facing for digital devices. Little over a week later, a parent told Naughton their child’s principal was “still pressing ahead”.“We feel like we are being ‘press-ganged’ into something we don’t want and can’t afford,” the parent wrote.Naughton had told schools across the State last May that her department was aware of a “growing number of cases where parents are being asked to spend considerable amounts of money on devices”.In the correspondence, the Minister added that, in some cases, families had been “directed toward commercial credit arrangements” to meet the costs of tablets or laptops.READ MORENoting that parents were “concerned about the financial burden” being placed upon them, the Minister told principals and board of management chairs there was “no requirement” for Junior or Leaving Certificate students to own laptops or tablets.However, some parents were subsequently told by principals they were introducing “mandatory” devices for students, despite the Minister’s intervention.One copy of such correspondence, forwarded to the Minister by a parent and obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, reads: “While much of what the Minister said in her communication was balanced, she omitted one central point which is her department’s introduction of AACs (Additional Assessment Components) and the decision that they have to be presented in digital form.”All the parents who are struggling to put petrol in the car and food on the table and heat the house during the winter, they’re the same parents that are being asked to buy these devices— Áine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents CouncilUnder senior-cycle reforms, new and revised subjects have incorporated AACs, such as projects or practical work, worth at least 40 per cent.The principal said the increasing role of such projects within the Leaving Cert was a “significant factor” in introducing the mandatory devices.Since the introduction of free schoolbooks, devices have become the most significant back-to-school expense for parents, with a recent report from children’s charity Barnardos putting the average cost this year at €447, though some parents spoke of being asked to pay up to €850.Siobhán O’Neill-White, a mother of four based in Bettystown, Co Meath, has spent €2,440 on school devices for her children since they became mandatory at their school about a decade ago.Siobhán O'Neill-White and her daughter April White. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times Although schoolbooks are funded by the Government, to the tune of more than €160 million this year, she says it is “too late”.“It doesn’t make any difference because you have to buy the tech,” she says. “The expense has switched from a physical book to an iPad.”She bought a laptop about 10 years ago for her older son at a cost of €450, but the school switched to Apple iPads about two years later, which were “mandatory”.This meant she had to buy two iPads, one for her son and one for her daughter as she was entering first year, costing €1,200 in total.Last year, she spent €700 on an iPad for her youngest daughter when she began first year, alongside €90 on insurance for the device.Devices cannot be passed on from older siblings, the 48-year-old says, and all had to be purchased through a specific supplier.Although the tablets are “brilliant” and have “everything on them”, including schoolbooks, O’Neill-White, who set up mams.ie, an advice website for mothers in Ireland, says it can be “very challenging” to meet the associated costs.Such costs are “unattainable for a lot of parents”, says Áine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents Council, who says the “growing issue” is creating a social divide between those who can and cannot afford devices.“Quite often when parents can’t afford to get something their children need in education, they borrow money to do it. We’d have great concerns about an education system that is forcing parents down that route,” she says.“All the parents who are struggling to put petrol in the car and food on the table and heat the house during the winter, they’re the same parents that are being asked to buy these devices.”Áine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents Council. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Dara Mac Donaill Dara MacDonaill Lynch also raised concerns that some schools required devices to be bought from specific suppliers, meaning parents “can’t shop around for the best deal”.Many schools that require parents to buy digital devices do so through a single, exclusive third-party supplier, such as Wriggle or Olive, the biggest providers.The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has raised concerns over such arrangements and wrote to schools last year advising them to only appoint exclusive suppliers after a competitive process.Craig Whelan, director of antitrust at the CCPC, says exclusive arrangements can see competition for parents’ business reduced and families paying more.“The simple fact is that directing parents to purchase devices from a single, exclusive supplier – particularly without a competitive process behind choosing that supplier – risks pushing up costs for families.“When suppliers do not have to compete for business, parents get a raw deal. This can make a significant purchase even more expensive,” he says.Despite interventions from both the Minister and the CCPC, Whelan says the commission continues to hear from parents who say they have “no choice but to buy expensive digital devices or bundles from third-party suppliers”.“We are especially concerned by reports that some suppliers are attempting to win business through extending hospitality to school staff rather than offering better value to families. Competition should be won in the marketplace – not at a hotel bar,” he says.Wriggle has offered school leaders “complimentary exclusive” overnight retreats at Ireland’s “top 5-star hotels”, including The K Club in Co Kildare, the Castlemartyr Resort in east Cork and the Mount Juliet Estate in Co Kilkenny.“This exclusive retreat includes dinner, drinks and an overnight stay in a luxurious 5-star setting – offering the ideal space to connect, reflect and reimagine your school’s digital journey with like-minded school leaders and the wider Wriggle team,” an event description from earlier this year reads.A spokesman for the company told The Irish Times: “We strongly disagree with any suggestion that they are sales events.”“Wriggle’s school leaders events are professional-development forums with the philosophy and practice of teaching at their core,” he said.Attendance at such events carried “no procurement or commercial commitment”, he said, adding that overnight accommodation was “entirely optional and provided as a practical support for those travelling significant distances”.The company “strongly” agreed that supplier appointments should be won on the value delivered to schools and families, “not on hospitality”.Asked about the events, Paul Crone, director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), said he would be “concerned if a school did not do a proper procurement process before engaging with any of the suppliers”.Noting that both the reformed junior and senior cycles focus “quite heavily on digital literacy”, Crone says the only way such devices can be funded currently is “through the parents”.“I hear an awful lot of people saying they can buy the device cheaper [elsewhere] and of course you can. But what you don’t have [with other retailers] is a helpline, you don’t have a support structure,” he says.Funding provided under the Government’s free schoolbooks scheme cannot be used to supply digital devices. Crone says this “needs to change”.“In my opinion, there’s a stronger argument that students need access to digital devices than they need access to physical books, because they can get the books on the digital devices.”However, should the funding structure change and allow schools to use it for digital devices, the department would need to consider schools’ IT capacity, he says.“They don’t have IT expertise. That’s why schools are left with no choice but to partner with outside experts.”“We need to find a way to remove the financial burden on parents without increasing the burden on schools who don’t have the capacity to deal with even what they have to deal with now,” he says, such as the management of free schoolbooks and school meals.In a statement, the Department of Education confirmed it had begun a review on back-to-school costs.[ Ella McSweeney: Why Ireland needs to stop mandating parents to buy their children laptops for schoolOpens in new window ]The review of a circular issued in 2017, which detailed measures schools must adopt to reduce the cost of school uniforms and other items, would place a “stronger emphasis on reducing costs for parents”, the department said.It said the decision to use digital devices was a matter for each school’s board of management, though where such devices were used, schools were expected to ensure “no child is disadvantaged due to lack of access”.