...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?

There was an interesting piece on this on Radio 4 a few years ago. The central point was - of course it's hard, we're asking kids to compute things out of 60 when everything else is 100. They know their number bonds to 10. Made real sense.

@SarahAndQuack that's really strange as I just realised I'm the same as you. Time just simply makes more sense looking at an analogue clock! I wonder whether there is anything significant about that 🤔

Plenty of people struggled with this even before digital clocks were a big thing. There are some skills that are used/needed less these days then they used to be and so younger generations aren’t as proficient at them, for example tying shoelaces. They will however have a whole raft of skills that we didn’t need when we were growing up that older people won’t necessarily know how to do.

But most of telling the time involves identifying blocks of 5. Kids learn to count, add, multiply, subtract and divide by 5 before they get anywhere near double digits.

An analogue clock can be 'read' in an instant by recognising the angles. So it helps introduce the concept of angles. It's used for navigation. It's used for describing the position an enemy is located. It's used to introduce the concept of Roman numerals, which leads on to algebra - a symbol being used to represent a quantity. It's not just a sterile concept, the motion of a clock's hands replicate the motion of the sun, so it represents the actual material world. It's an introduction into mechanics.

So many things lead from being able to tell the time with an analogue clock - even my phone display is analogue (by choice, yes, but my eyesight is crap and I can see shapes far better than I can digits in some fonts and sizes).

It's lazy and wrong to allow children who are perfectly capable of learning if they are NT (and a hell of a lot of ND) to not repeat and repeat and repeat using it until it is recognised in an instant, rather than having to read numbers off a display.

Thanks everyone for the responses! Interesting the link with dyslexia which I will explore further. My DS's friend says he is dyslexia (although has never been tested).

I too am dyslexic had have always had to think hard when looking at a 24hr clock - I always firstly think that 16.00 is 6pm, for example.

My DD6's maths target this term is to be able to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes. I wonder if in 100 years if there will be a need to understand analogue clocks?

DS1 can’t. He’s 22. He has Aspergers, ASD & dyslexia. It’s not that he wasn’t taught to read an analogue clock - it’s just that he actually can’t. 8 year old DD can.

Analogue clicks are great for giving us a feel for how long we have left which a string of numbers on a digital display can never do.

Telling the time has been on the curriculum since clocks were first invented, I reckon, but like everything else, some people don't get it first time around. Perhaps they were ill or distracted or needed grommets or glasses or perhaps a parent took them on holiday for the crucial first week or two. Unlike other things, perhaps it doesn't come round again in quite the same intense focus.

In a previous life, I used to teach MFL to 12 and 13yo and when it came to playing with the clock and learning "Viertel vor vier," or "Onze heures moins le quart," there were always a few who struggled. I quickly learned to check what they could and couldn't do in English; that's where the problem usually lay!

Do people who struggle to tell the time with an analogue clock also struggle with a compass and reading angles? Also times tables, as reading a clock really clicked with DS when he got his 5 times table.

When my DF suffered with delirium/dementia after a fall one of the first things that went was his ability to tell the time. He told me his watch was broken as it had 3 hands (couldn't work out what the second hand was). He was a technical engineer who could cope with all sorts of mathematical formulae and concepts. Broke my heart to see him struggling to tell the time, which would have been such a simple thing for him

I was working in Y3 last year and was really shocked to discover that many of the children had very limited or no experience of analogue clocks.

It's taught in primary schools and has been for at least the last 20 years so there is no reason why people can't unless they have an issue like dyslexia which can make it harder.

This is so sad and IMO lazy parenting.

Dave Allen on why telling the time is tricky!

I wonder if in 100 years if there will be a need to understand analogue clocks?

I think we will. Unless we plan to knock down the Houses of Parliament and other buildings with analogue clocks (Big Ben, although actually not Big Ben), they will remain with us.

My DD 10 is dyslexic and just can't do it, we've been through it so many times, we have analogue clocks all over the house including her room. Her brother aged 8 (not dyslexic) picked it up quickly and has no issue. If anyone has any tips for helping kids with dyslexia learn to read time I'd be really grateful, she's Y5 and loves school but In worried SATs are likely to make the whole of Y6 a nightmare for her.

It's taught in primary. Ds2 finds it hard, which baffles me.

Well no one under 25 really uses a watch ! My DS who has an MSC only ever looks at his phone .He can tell the time on an anlogue clock though .Its quite an old fashioned skill ,and I struggled as a child with it .I remember My DP buying me a watch with a red leather strap for my birthday when I was about 6 or 7 (My parents obv!)

DS has a watch that he uses at school. They are not allowed to have their phones out at school and he needs to know when he has to go out for lessons for things like piano.

Also as said above he needs one when his scout group go hiking, although I guess that might be quite niche.

I am a secondary school TA and in every small group I do, I work on the analogue clock (along with tie and shoe lace tying).

I am dyslexic and couldn't tell the time till very late and it was a constant source of embarrassment for me. Although things are different now because of the digital clock, kids need to understand the concept of time 'quarter to/past' and to time themselves in exams.

It’s actually really quite complex. There are 3 hands, one of which is moving constantly- you can ignore this one. Then there’s a long one, which represents minutes (a short interval) and a short one, which represents hours (a long interval). To tell the time, you need to look at where the long hand is pointing, and ignore the numbers round the edge and count round in 5s. Until you get past the six, then you have to count backwards round in fives. Then you have to decide whether to say ‘past’ or ‘to’ after that number. Oh but If it’s pointing at the 12, 3, 6 or 9, you don’t say the number in 5s you say quarter or half or o clock....now you need to look at the small hand and decide which number it is closes too. This time you say the number, you don’t multiply it by 5.

I can see why some children struggle tbh!

My primary aged kids have analogue watches

You can get children’s watches that not only show the hours but the minutes too (past and to) to help them tell the time.

It is taught in primary school every year from reception up. Every time you teach it the children look at you like then have never seen a clock before.
The problem is that so few household now have analogue clocks on the wall. One homework I set is to go around the house looking for clocks and writing down where they are.
For most households it is cooker, microwave, sky box.

Personally I find an analogue clock easier when working out timing for the day and cooking.

I had to teach my DD but she knows now.
I set up my apple watch to analogue as I was fed up with being lazy. And when she wants to know the time, I just tilt my wrist.

Apart from Gro clocks and clock radios all the clocks in our house are analogue, both kids have one in thier rooms - 3 and 5.

I also have an analogue face on my phone!!

I do find it sad some see such little importance in it, as I said before its not the telling the actual time but how it is used to work things out.

I was discussing this in my lesson before half term about maths we use without realising it - working out when we need to leave to get to the cinema, theatre, how long till the bus comes etc.

My Year 1s can tell the time on an analogue clock to the full and half hour. We're teaching in both English and German, which makes the whole thing rather more confusing for some of them.
Half past three = halb vier (half of four)
4pm = 16 Uhr (o'clock)
To be fair, they've been coping well so far. Days of the week and months of the year have been slightly more confusing for them. :D