To be sick of school directly undermining me

This is obviously the way school manage the lack of resources and teachers these days- and this shows up in a huge surge in homeschooling (which is still all internet based though-so I'm told.

The OP is describing a rather different experience though - her daughter is watching YouTube with adverts in the classroom. Many other parents are describing over use of videos instead of PE, story time etc.

The mass provision of ipads and “gamification” of learning in Scotland has not correlated with educational improvements, quite the opposite. There is next to no research showing genuine educational benefit to children, especially disadvantaged children of over use of technology at an early age. Its always the disadvantaged children who suffer worst in these experiments - MC parents either go private or make sure the children get plenty of traditional learning practice at home.

A number of decades ago a large publishing company made a fortune flogging the “Look and Say” reading method and making it the default in US schools with some very dodgy research behind it. A generation of children suffered badly in reading acquisition, especially disadvantaged chilcdren. Publishing companies were flogging “gamified” learning apps to schools 10-15 years ago - again with no real research behind them but a lot of money to be made and large marketing budgets.

Pretty much every country conducting large scale experiments on this are has stepped back and reduced tech in schools for early years - not just because the very expensive kit and app licences don’t improve outcomes but because outcomes worsened. Disadvantaged children doing worst of all - just as with the old Look and Say failures.

There is a place for technology in schools but it should only be where there is solid, independent evidence to support it rather than marketing from publishing firms.

I am with you OP. DD's are in year 3 and 6,and they have 1 lesson of screen time a fortnight, which is a specific IT lesson with laptop where they do typing, drawing, basic programming 'beebots'. The school did trial sending home ebook links for a year after books kept going missing, but decided after a year that was slowing progress, so reverted to paper books with a £5 fine if lose them - miraculously only 4 books were lost after they brought this in, vs dozens before.

If it's wet PE, they might do something like 'cosmic yoga' projected onto a big screen in the hall, and a movie on last day of term, but as far as I know, that's it for screen time.

I’ve never personally come across this. My older DC attended two different primaries because we moved towns and now my younger DC go to a different one so have experience of 3 schools. They have a limited number of iPads / laptops which they bring out once in a while for IT lessons but that’s it. Pen and paper and actual books are used. In reception they put Numberblocks or alphablocks on as a treat sometimes.

Yep, same in Borders. Huge amounts of resources (millions and millions of pounds) leeched by big tech whilst schools
cant buy the basics and learning support staff are cut, small rural nurseries are being mothballed etc etc. It’s a scandal.

So to be clear… it’s not the curriculum
it is a crappy school

Hi OP, I came across this press release this morning which may help with your research: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/217822/social-media-ban-committee-publishes-government-response-to-report-on-childrens-screentime/ (from this week so very new)

Mine had an iPad from January in P1 but mostly maths games. Homework has always been reading (actual book) and spelling with sentences with the word in the sentence in an actual homework book.

As I said above, in our school PE is lesson planned by senior leaders, I don't have the flexibility to deviate from it. It's not uncommon in some schools (particularly chains) for that to be the case for certain topics.

Very interesting. So like music lessons and the arts, our kids in state schools get the cheap way

In the case of Glasgow city council, to the detriment of staffing (teachers and support staff) and other classroom resources.

Trust me, it’s used all the time. Did you see some low life teacher got sacked the other day because he left his search history on whilst looking for a clip projected in front of a load of kids. Oh yes!

I worry about how schools just threw in iPads or chrome books with what felt like little thought. Of course I don’t stand in way of technology but as we know, it can go faster than our ability to get our heads round it. All that fuss about mobile phones and then we hand them an internet enabled device and an email login and let them get on with it. Course they are all communicating like mad across schools. Yes tech support can see their emails but I was in a school of 1200 kids, you couldn’t monitor them all. We got Pinterest enabled for them “to look at design ideas” for their “research and product planning “ Same with YouTube… and guess what, they use them as social media, in the classroom. Head teachers can be so gullible.

@BrummieKara are you telling us with a straight faced that the curriculum stipulates you have to use YouTube in PE?

There are many reasons that I’m glad I don’t live in Scotland

and this has just been added to this list

How is school affording all these ipads?!

All schools in my area have iPads and all kids are issued with their own from P7 onwards

YouTube for PE is dreadful. There is also emerging evidence that children need a certain amount of time outside to protect their eyes from short/sightedness. It should be at least 2 hours a day. Screens instead of sport outside is a terrible idea.

Cutting out a family game once a weekend won't make that much difference.

We do have a library but it's tiny. It's not just having the books at the correct band it's a book covering the new phonics sound. There is I've for each of the 44 phonemes which needs to be read in the correct order as they are progressive. So 30x44 books and that's just for phonics. We are in a very deprived area and books often don't come back when sent home. We don't have a PTA fundraising for books and we spend most of our money of staff.
At my own children's school they have an amazing library (paid for by the PTA and constant requests for donations) ironically my kids use more tech than my school (because we can't afford the tech either. We have one class set of iPads for the whole school to share)

I have a child who just started year 1 and would be horrified at what you’re describing.
my kid attends a state UK primary and screen use in the early years is pretty minimal.
dont put up with it, there is mounting evidence that learning outcomes are worse when screens are a main teaching tool.

My DD has just finished Y1 and in both reception and Y1 they seemed to watch a LOT of TV and YouTube (including things like Danny Go). I was really surprised as we’re always reading about how the curriculum is too full to fit everything in!

You are joking, right? I can guarantee you that educators have very little understanding of data privacy or terms and conditions of the apps they’re signing children up to or what data those apps are now collecting and monetising from each child or how exposure to online content influences the development of young brains. One primary school in the UK thought it was a good idea to introduce facial recognition technology for school lunches fgs.

None of this is good for our children and all about making teaching more convenient. Granted this is against a backdrop of reduced budgets and greater classroom size so I understand why teachers reach for these shortcuts. However , there is a huge body of research identifying the harmful effects of ‘education’ technology (mis)sold to poorly or misinformation academies or LAs.

@LainaDelBoy I’d be equally furious and upset if my DCs school had done this.

Why not cut out the gaming and then the screenntime will reduce?