...to expect everyone to be able to tell the time on an analogue clock?

[TamaraDeLempicky]

Over the weekend, DS's friend (13) told me that he can't tell the time by looking at an analogue clock. I was shocked! He said he doesn't need to because he has a digital clock on his phone.

I have various analogue clocks around the house and at work which I use all the time. Do you think everyone should have the ability to read an analogue clock?

So interesting how many people are saying dyslexia makes it harder for them to read analogue clocks. I have the opposite problem - I can't retain the info from a digital clock. I can see it saying 17.53 and I have to translate it into a clockface image before it means anything at all to me.

But anyway - yes, OP, a bit unreasonable, but I'd probably be a little surprised too.

This is one of those things parents need to help bed in with children. Having (tried to) teach year 6 time, there were a fair few who just couldn’t grasp it and I think we haven’t entirely moved on from analogue.

I teach French and we obviously do telling the time.... And more and more most children can't tell the time on a norm clock. They're so used to using a phone rather than a watch though.

I struggle with reading an analogue clock but can do it. Have had a couple of times at work where I've misread it and tried to do time sensitive stuff an hour too early, I've now got myself a digital watch for work, the watch is useful in it's own right but it's a big help being able to quickly check whether I've read the clock right. I remember learning the time in Spanish at school, that's the first time I realised how much I struggle compared to everyone else. I also struggle with my left and right, I know them but it takes a bit of processing, following directions in the car can be fun. I don't know if the two are related or they're just little quirks in how my brain works, I don't have dyslexia.

I'm quite shocked that posters think it's ok not to teach it to your children. Just reminds me of being a cocky kid saying I won't need to learn times tables because calculators exist, obviously we all have phones now but there are times when I can't use my phone or it's dead etc. and I turn to shit, I feel stupid and frustrated. I can't imagine something like telling the time making me feel like that.

I've been trying to teach DS for 4.5 years he just struggles with it.
I'm about to give up and get him a digital watch. It's more important he can tell the time than how he does it.

Some people can, some people can't.

There are some maths skills and concepts that people find difficult - and I wonder how many people who can read a digital clock would struggle to tell you how many minutes it is to the next hour, or what time it will be in 1 hr 25 minutes for example.

This has really surprised me. Firstly that kids can’t do it and that people don’t expect kids to be able to do it.

Our house is full of clocks so I’m going to make sure my kid can tell time. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to put any emphasis on it but I will now! To me it’s like being able to read.

Meh, I'm 28 and I was taught in school but it doesn't come naturally, even after years of doing it. I have a clock in my kitchen but I have to 'work out' the time in my head to use it iyswim.

I think it is an important skill, especially when sitting GCSEs and A levels as students need to work out how long to spend on each question.

And how much longer they have left in an exam. With the advent of smart watches students will be asked to remove them for exams.

I'm dyspraxic, analogue clocks confuse the shit out of me. I have lots in the house though because I like the look of them

Ginfordinner that's why my school has a digital clock in the exam hall.

There is a difference between understanding intellectually and knowing intuitively. Growing up surrounded by analogue clocks, it only takes me a glance. My 10yo daughter who rarely sees them learned in school, but she has to put in effort to read one.

It isn’t really necessary in this day and age because most clocks are digital. The exam halls in our college have a digital clock.

@ColdAsIceCubes the way i teach it is as a maths problem. You may have already tried this but just in case...

To work out the time in the afternoon you have to minus 12
Eg 1600 is 16-12= 4
Therefore 16= 4pm

Hope that makes sense and is helpful

Lots of children struggle with telling the time on an analogue clock . Dave Allen did a very funny but true sketch on telling the time ( it’s on YouTube ) .
It’s the one aspect of numeracy which needs a lot of parental input if it doesn’t come naturally.

I'm not sure I'd like a digital clock in a exam.

I don't know, but I suspect, when you're used to analogue, your brain looks at the angles rather than the numbers. I find it much easier to know roughly how far through something I am, as a proportion, with an analogue clock than with a digital one.

Very few children actually wear a watch nowadays and if they do it tends to be a fit bit type one .
It needs to be reinforced at home from about 6 onwards .

I'm a secondary Maths teacher and have taught a whole range of abilities of students to be able to use an analogue clock. Basics of time telling also seem to be a bit ropey as well.

It is taught in primary but like most maths skills if not used then it is lost.

It is also an excuse used for students to get phones out - I used to teach in a classroom with two analogue clocks - one a fun maths one without proper numbers but caluclations for each number and another with all normal numbers, so many students would ask what the time was and I would point at the clock and they would say they don't understand them.

Do think although it is on national curriculum its is also a parental responsibility!

@AndddddHerewegoagain thank you, that’s really helpful.

My ds is14 now but I taught him to read the analogue clock when he was about 5. I was surprised how many of his friends couldn't tell the time and all through Primary but especially up to year 4 and below he was like the speaking clock and friends would ask him how long until playtime, lunchtime and home time! Surely all children can read an analogue clock because that's the first clock they learn to read before they can understand a digital one.

DS struggles due to dyslexia. A common feature of dyslexia is struggling to learn patterns such as times tables and remember multi-stage instructions. So telling the time means he needs to identify which hand is which and remember its function, apply the 5x table to the minutes, and then apply the right vocabulary e.g. 35 minutes past= 25 to, 45 minutes past = quarter to. It makes it much, much harder to process all those different stages until the brain can automate them. Added to that there is rarely chance to practice the skill as there are few analogue clocks around.

Dunelm has a lovely analogue clock with some instructions on and the DCs have one in each room.

Polkadotsandmoonbeams this will probably out me as I have told this story a lot. I cater at Guide camp and generally have a cheap watch so if it gets damaged at camp I don't mind so much. One year EVERY meal I served late by 10-15 minutes.

My fellow leaders commented that it wasn't like me - had done it for a fair few years and maybe 5 minutes leaway for something taking longer than it should etc

My excuse was my watch was digital and I couldn't work out the timings on it - ie look at it and its 420 I know I have 40 mins to get dinner ready instantly! It is all about the angles!

It's taught more as a maths exercise than a life skill to a lot of kids now. So they do a few lessons on it in primary school, but don't have the constant reminders in life all the time. I'm a weirdo though, because I teach my kids their directions and clock reading from really young. Not on purpose but because I'm one of those people who can visualise an analogue clock and a compass (sometimes at the same time) so its north, and its 12 0'Clock, its East and it's 3 O'Clock, it's North East or 1.30pm. Etc. I do find when I say things like "the person sat at 3 0'Clock" people don't always know what I mean. And that when you tell somebody to "it's to the East of x" they look at you like you're mental. I find analogue easier to read than digital. On my bedside I have an analogue alarm clock as well as my smart phone, partly due to blue light concerns, but also because when I get the 4am Panic (If you don't know what this is, then I hope you never do) I don't want to be dealing with numbers I want to see how far past the hour we are. I think of time in terms of a cake cut into slices, so my life is made up of fractions of time spent on each task. I don't know how to translate that when just looking at a number, I need to see the thirds/quarters etc. as a visual. Because that's my process when my children ask "when's dinner" instead of saying "at 6.30pm" lll say when both hands are pointing to the 6. Most people I know do not have an analogue clock in their house so this would not be part of their usual dialogue.