Primary school principals are urging parents and pupils not to buy gifts for teachers this Christmas.
The Irish Primary Principals' Network said the practice of children giving often expensive presents to teachers became widespread during the Celtic Tiger era and the organisation said it still continues.
The IPPN said accepting gifts can cause acute embarrassment to individual teachers who are conscious of parents and children who are not in a position to engage in such largesse.
The organisation said that on Friday an eight-year-old girl attending a Co Dublin school presented her teacher with a €200 voucher for an upmarket city centre department store.
It is urging families to show their appreciation of work done by teachers in a different way this year.
It said teachers would be more than happy to receive a homemade card or gift from a pupil that reflects some aspect of class work engaged in during the year.
