Here is a selection of student responses:

Student 1
I feel this is hugely unfair and no parent should be put under pressure to gain facilities for their school.

Student 2
To be honest, I never really thought about this voucher scheme, but from reading this extract, I now believe it to be an outrage […] The Tesco company should be ashamed of themselves.

Student 3
I believe there is something corrupt about the way in which supermarkets operate to gain sales. […] It shocks and appalls me.

Student 4
They are just out for what they can get. […] They know full well that when kids pester their parents for items, they nearly always get what they want.

Student 5
In order to get enough vouchers to actually do anything with them costs way too much (considering you can shop in much cheaper places).

Student 6
We are being fooled by money-making enterprises. […] How long will this last? How long will these companies be able to fool the nation?

Student 7
I don’t think that these voucher schemes are such a good idea. […] They are practically using us for advertising, even though the image is that they are helping us.

Student 8
I feel very strongly about cutting them from our society. I feel we, as consumers, are being exploited, and I don’t like the way we are falling for this money-making trap. […] We are being manipulated into thinking that this is a good scheme when quite frankly it is not.

Student 9
I believe these voucher schemes are ridiculous and evil on the part of the firm promoting them. […] This angers me: the school generates profit and advertising for the firm and then gets shafted.

Student 10
It’s a disgrace that the exploitation of our education system is legally and openly accepted.

Student 11
I believe this voucher scheme is only free advertising for supermarkets. […] I also think when we are given the vouchers that ‘bin them’ is the only answer and let Tesco be aware that they are not going to get away with this.

Student 12
I think it’s unethical and misleading. […] I feel that supermarkets like this are exploiting our under-funded education system.

Student 13
How come parents can’t see what a scam this is? […] Parents are forced to buy stuff that they never buy just to get a few extra tokens.

Student 14
I feel deceived and angry at the companies for cheating their customers like this. The system used by Tesco and Supervalu is completely unfair and immoral. Their encouragement to spread the word highlights their clear intention.

Student 15
I think that these voucher schemes are fraud-based and should be banned. […] I believe something should most definitely be done about this.

Student 16
I find it hard to believe that these major companies would manipulate teachers, parents, and children into thinking they are giving free equipment when actually it’s just a massive advertising stunt.

Student 17
I believe that these voucher schemes are a scam. The amount of money that has to be paid out to Tesco to receive a computer is not worth while. […] Tesco are making money and not handing out anything free. It does not provide schools with free IT equipment.

Student 18
I feel the same as the author. I know the statistics are right because I have looked into it myself. I see my own mother waste money on them every week. I think it is such a rip off and shouldn’t be allowed to go on.

31^st March 2008

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you regarding the issue of commercial marketing in primary schools.

You will be aware that the INTO and the Irish Primary Principals Network have both adopted policies which oppose such marketing.

You had previously, in the Dáil, promised to examine this matter with a view to issuing a policy which would provide clear guidelines for schools.

Minister, I would appreciate it if you could respond to me and let me know if your Department has yet created such a policy and if not, when it might be completed.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Senator Joe O’Toole.

And the Minister for Education’s response……

Office of the Minister for Education and Science,
Marlborough Street,
Dublin 1.

17 April 2008

Dear Senator O’ Toole,

I refer again to your recent letter in relation to commercial marketing in primary schools.

Three official Circulars (i.e. Circulars 23/84, 7/87 and 38/91) have issued from my Department to school authorities concerning the promotion and marketing of commercial products through schools. The Circulars noted my concern at the pressure on school from time to time to become involved in the marketing and promotion of commercial products.

It is at the discretion of management in individual schools to decide what commercial initiatives they want their school to engage in. Clearly some initiatives can be of great benefit to schools. Private companies are free to promote their business in accordance with accepted marketing practices. There are also accepted marketing standards, such as compliance with advertising regulations which guide, inform and control the relationship between the vendor and the potential customer. My Department recognises the sensitivities attached to the issue of promotion initiatives linking schools, pupils and parents to commercial activity. However, it would be inappropriate to prohibit marketing or sponsorship initiatives, provided that such schemes do not place undue pressure on parents in terms of additional expenditure, that children are protected from engagement in inappropriate promotional activity and that the schemes are linked to desirable projects serving national educational initiatives.

School authorities are required to ensure, as is outlined in the circulars to which I have already referred, that pressure is not placed on parents to purchase or engage in activities in respect of particular commercial products. In this context, Circular 38/91 specifically requests school authorities, following consultation with staff, to formulate agreed school policies in relation to commercial promotions. Such policies can assist school authorities to act prudently in taking steps to ensure that certain commercial products are not promoted and marketed through their schools.

In view of this my Department is satisfied that due awareness and vigilance already exists in relation to this matter.

Le gach dea-ghui,
Mary Hanafin T.D.
Minister for Education and Science.

]]> http://www.commercialfreeeducation.com/archives/69/feed http://www.commercialfreeeducation.com/archives/66 http://www.commercialfreeeducation.com/archives/66#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:51:02 +0000 Mark Conroy http://www.commercialfreeeducation.com/?p=66 Parliamentary Question from Ruairí Quinn T.D. 9th April 2008

Chun an Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíoctha To the Minister for Education and Science To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the disquiet expressed by the Irish Primary Principals Network and the Irish National Teachers Organisation regarding unregulated commercial marketing and advertising in primary schools; if she will develop an official code of standards related to the Code of Advertising to children on television and radio which would clearly distinguish between commercial marketing in schools and the promotion of genuine philanthropy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. - Ciarán Lynch. (Nominated by: Ruairí Quinn). For ORAL answer on Wednesday, 9th April, 2008. Reference Number: 13177/08

Freagra:

Minister for Education and Science (Mary Hanafin, T.D.)

I would like to assure the Deputy that I am aware of the concerns raised by the IPPN and the INTO on commercial marketing in schools. I understand that such marketing can take a variety of forms - from educational materials made available to schools by newspapers to companies offering schemes whereby products are given to the school on the basis of tokens collected by parents. I am of course concerned that such commercial activities do not result in schools or parents feeling pressurised to become involved in the marketing and promotion of commercial products. The Department has provided guidance to schools, through circulars, on this issue. As the Deputy will be aware, under Section 15 of the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school and is therefore responsible for making decisions as to the types of activities that the school becomes involved in. Ultimately it is at the discretion of management in individual schools to decide what commercial initiatives they want their school to engage with. Clearly some initiatives can be of great benefit to schools. However, others might be seen as putting undue pressures on parents to shop in particular stores. Private companies are free to promote their business in accordance with accepted marketing practices. I am familiar with the accepted marketing standards referred to by the Deputies, such as compliance with advertising regulations which guide, inform and control the relationship between the vendor and the potential customers. My Department recognises the sensitivities attached to the issue of promotion initiatives linking schools, pupils and parents to commercial activity. However, it would be inappropriate to have an across the board prohibition on marketing or sponsorship initiatives. School authorities are required to ensure, as is outlined in the circulars to which I have already referred, that such schemes do not place undue pressure on parents in terms of requiring additional expenditure, that students are protected from engagement in inappropriate promotional activity and that the schemes are linked to desirable projects serving national educational initiatives. In this context, Circular 38/91 specifically requests school authorities, following consultation with staff, to formulate agreed school policies in relation to commercial promotions. Such policies can assist school authorities to act prudently in taking steps to ensure that certain commercial products are not promoted and marketed through their schools. I am satisfied that there is a good degree of due awareness and vigilance amongst schools on this matter. However, the Department intends to reinforce and support this work by issuing a new circular to schools shortly. ENDS.

Computers, Sports, cooking…What next?

The Flora Cooking with Schools Scheme, which claims to “help put healthy eating at the heart of the classroom”, offers ‘free’ cooking equipment, when a school convinces the pupils in their care to buy their product- Flora and collect the proof of purchase tokens. In fact according to their brochure “…its easy to see the benefits. For example, if there are 250 children in your school and every family collects tokens from just one medium sized pack, your school will have €150 to spend on food technology equipment”.

Parents pay their taxes to fund schools and pay for teaching time, not turn our country’s classrooms into marketing bazaar for multinationals to tout their wares. Enough is enough! The minister needs to step to the proverbial plate and ban this nonsense from schools.

To see the scheme for yourself visit: http:// www.cookingwithschools.com/

To register your disgust with the Minister for Education, email: minister_hanafin@education.gov.ie

_________________

Addition to the above:

You are welcome to copy and paste this letter/email to send to the minister:

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you as a concerned teacher/parent/citizen.

I am appalled at the amount of marketing that is taking place in our schools.

Every week it seems there is something else being promoted: if it is not SuperVau pretending to care about our schools’ lack of sports equipment (sports equipment that your department are supposed to be providing), then it’s Tesco pretending to provide free computers (I say pretending because customers have to spend over a quarter of a million in Tesco to get a computer for a school- and again, this is equipment that your department is supposed to be providing); and if it’s not Tesco, it’s Flora (the latest) pretending to give free cooking equipment (and, yes, again, this is equipment that your department is supposed to be providing).

It is a terrible state to have our schools so under-resourced that students/parents/teachers/schools are being asked to accept these marketing scams as if they were philanthropic endeavours.

Can you please do something about this?

Regards,

To read more on Sacred Heart NS policy on commercialism click here.

Wicklow Times 02/04/08 Article

Alternatively, feel free to print it and sign it and send it to your local newspaper/school/Tesco/community notice board. A slightly more detailed copy of the letter can be found on indymedia.ie.

_________________

Sir –
The recently launched Tesco ‘Computers for Schools’ scheme claims to provide schools with free IT equipment. This is a fallacy. Simple maths will explain: in order for a school to claim a ‘free’ computer that retails at about €700, customers will have to spend €344,000 in Tesco (i.e. 34,400 vouchers at €10 each); in order for a school to claim a ‘free’ battery charger and four batteries (that you could buy for around €10) customers will be asked to add €18,900 to Tesco’s bank account, and so on. (Source: 2008 Tesco Computers for Schools Catalogue, available at tesco.ie)

What a scheme like this actually does is allow an under-funded education system to continue to be under-funded by allowing the government to continue to abdicate its responsibilities in this area. The line seems to be: if Tesco are willing to provide IT equipment, why not let them? The same is true of the currently-running SuperValu ‘Kids in Action’ scheme, which claims to give free sports equipment to schools. Could you imagine the uproar if Tesco et al decided to run a ‘Medical Equipment for Hospitals’ voucher scheme? Or, ‘Better Equipment for the Gardaí’ voucher scheme?

The only free thing that comes out of this scheme is free advertising for the supermarkets. A cursory look at Tesco’s website gives the following advice to teachers to increase the amount of vouchers they collect: ‘Put up posters around school’ (i.e. advertise for us); ‘Send a letter to parents’ (i.e. advertise for us); ‘Design and circulate flyers’ (i.e. advertise for us); ’send a letter to other local businesses’ (i.e. advertise for us); ‘prize for the class who collects the most vouchers’ (i.e. pit students against students).

The Irish National Teachers Organisation has called on its 34,000 members to ‘reject this campaign by sending the vouchers back or by putting them in the recycle bin”. Indeed, this is advice that every right thinking parent ought to consider (whilst also writing to Tesco to let them know that we are not going to allow our education system to be co-opted by private enterprise).

Is mise,
Mark Conroy.

A draft report prepared by a strategy group appointed by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin gives few grounds for optimism. The group was asked by Ms Hanafin to examine how best to spend €252 million allocated to schools for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) under the National Development Plan. But the strategy group is not convinced that this allocation, spread across 4,000 schools between now and 2013, will transform Irish schools. It suggests the investment is inadequate to fund progress beyond merely functional ICT levels and says that additional finance will be required to elevate our schools to a European Union average of ICT provision.

The draft report looks to a future where ICT becomes a “seamless component of the educational experience and where well trained teachers feel supported and adequately resourced in its use”. But we have some distance to travel in meeting a goal which is critically important if we are to familiarise pupils with technology. A recent survey from the Teachers Union of Ireland estimated that 50 per cent of computer facilities in Irish schools are unusable while one fifth of computers are more than six years old. Remarkably, only 4 per cent of computers were located in classrooms; most were kept in a dedicated computer room. Overall, Irish schools have one of the lowest levels of ICT use within the EU.

There have been several false dawns when it comes to computer initiatives for schools. Various national programmes have been rolled out but teachers, even those who are keen proponents of the so-called “knowledge society”, have been demoralised by the lack of adequate training, back-up and technical supports. Despite its importance, there is a sense that ICT provision has been allowed to slip down the agenda, leaving schools reliant on supermarket tokens and their own fundraising events to purchase new hardware. Funding from the National Development Plan provides an opportunity for a fresh start. At the very least, it will - as the strategy group acknowledges - provide much needed finance to update equipment. But the draft report makes clear that this can only be a first step. Much greater investment and a deeper commitment to transform the classroom is required if we are serious about Irish schools providing pupils with ICT skills that will properly equip them to create and participate in a knowledge-based society.

(Taken from Irish Times Editorial, Thursday 20th March)

See the 2006 report from BBC News.

Jim Higgins of the INTO spoke to RTE’s Irish language programme “Pobal” on March 9th and condemned the voucher schemes, run by Tesco and Super Valu.

Mr Higgins speaking about Super Valu’s ‘Kids in Action’ Campaign said
“The INTO recommends that teachers reject this campaign by sending the vouchers back or by putting them in the recycle bin”

Click here to watch the report*

(Report begins at 20mins 12 seconds)

To view the agenda click here