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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish schools used textbooks.....?

44 replies

LyricalBoudicca · 27/05/2022 18:07

I may be projecting my own issues with reading off a screen all the time, but I'm sure my chidren are missing something by not having a textbook to work from. Everything is a hyperlink to a website, my children get distracted with other things on the laptop, there's sometimes a wifi issue or a submission problem or a formatting issue with a powerpoint they need to do (the worst) The only positive thing is that I don't have to buy bookshelves to stack the multitude of books. AIBU?

OP posts:
Onwards22 · 27/05/2022 18:19

All of the schools I know use textbooks more than screens (apart from the board at the front).

Do you mean homework?

Original poster
LyricalBoudicca · 27/05/2022 18:21

Yes, I mean homework...

OP posts:
TeenPlusCat · 27/05/2022 18:22

I agree. DD hated / hates doing work online.
I had a set of reference books / study guides for my DDs covering many subjects which helped a lot. it actually gets better for GCSEs as the revision guides are good for most subjects.

Dinoteeth · 27/05/2022 18:23

I think textbooks must reduce workload and planning for teachers. The whole course in one place that they can supplement with other resources as necessary.

Must take hours finding the most appropriate worksheets on line.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 27/05/2022 18:23

Schools have no money. They can’t afford sets of textbooks for classes, never mind for people to take home.

Pinkflipflop85 · 27/05/2022 18:25

We can't afford text books...

ThrallsWife · 27/05/2022 18:32

Some schools believe students should not learn from textbooks because that is not what a teacher is paid to do and therefore do not buy any.

Some schools have no money to replace lost/ defaced books (would you be happy with a book with male appendages drawn all over it going home to you?)

Some schools therefore use digital textbooks.

Some schools try to appear innovative.

Textbooks have their place in learning, IF students can read at an age-appropriate level. In most classes, there will be a few who can't read properly. Or need copies in certain colours. There are too many barriers for textbooks for home learning, not least because, if buying them were mandatory, many people would kick off.

Buying textbooks (and taking them into class) was mandatory and not an issue where I am from, but it is a different culture in Britain.

ReginaGeorgeismyname · 27/05/2022 18:34

Dinoteeth · 27/05/2022 18:23

I think textbooks must reduce workload and planning for teachers. The whole course in one place that they can supplement with other resources as necessary.

Must take hours finding the most appropriate worksheets on line.

Most make worksheets themselves rather than looking online

Redlocks28 · 27/05/2022 18:36

Most teachers I know like textbooks-they make planning easier. Unfortunately the government change the curriculum so often that textbooks are almost immediately obsolete and schools can’t afford to replace them.

clary · 27/05/2022 18:43

As a teacher of MFL I used text books a lot in class, and sometimes hw was a task from a book (copied to the ppt). Bit schools cannot afford a text book for every student. We had 200 in a year; if a textbook is £20, that's £4000. At least half of them would not come back, or be defaced or tattered. We couldn't afford to buy glyesticks or pens.

I do love a textbook tho and would highly recommend the GCSE one if your dc is taking MFL GCSE. The AQA one is good.

clary · 27/05/2022 18:44

What I meant was, we couldn't afford gluesticks or pens, so obviously didn't have the bydgetvfur £4k on textbooks for each year.

glamourousindierockandroll · 27/05/2022 18:48

I would like to use textbooks more. Unfortunately, for a long time now (since I trained in the 00s) they've been seen as deeply unfashionable and Poor Practice.

I teach English and we don't use textbooks for anything; all our lessons and resources are made by staff in our department. They're good but I doubt they're much different from a good quality textbook, especially for things like grammar practice.

Pyewhacket · 27/05/2022 18:50

I/we put the highest priority on their education so I felt textbooks were a necessity. That said, I managed to find quite a few second-hand.

College you have to supply your own books and I'm not even going into University altho, to be fair, my father has supplied everything my daughter needs.

TeenPlusCat · 27/05/2022 18:52

At least half of them would not come back, or be defaced or tattered.

This is the sad bit for me. At my school (independent) we had stickers in the front of each book, and the girl given the book would write their name/year in.
The school could see exactly who was responsible for each text book, and we could see which previous pupils had had our copy of the book before us. Some books lasted years.

But with the syllabus changing every 5 minutes, I can see whyc schools don't invest in books.

However that doesn't excuse the random 'look it up on the internet' things when giving 3 or 4 sites with the right type of info at the right type of level could be provided. I do think some adults massively underestimate the time and stress it can take some pupils when searching web sites. (Speed reading, quick assessment skills as well as not getting distracted.)

hedgehogger1 · 27/05/2022 18:53

We can't afford textbooks. I managed to get the school to fork out for some new a level ones, but only 1 between 2 and the classes have to take it in turns for them. I did organise a 50% discount for those students who wanted to buy their own

WakeWaterWalk · 27/05/2022 18:55

Text books are frowned upon here: I naively asked about them at the start of secondary. No regular homework until exam years. Very hard to be a helicopter parent here even if you'd like to be.
I know Irish family have to buy their kids' textbooks.

TeenPlusCat · 27/05/2022 18:56

glamourousindierockandroll · 27/05/2022 18:48

I would like to use textbooks more. Unfortunately, for a long time now (since I trained in the 00s) they've been seen as deeply unfashionable and Poor Practice.

I teach English and we don't use textbooks for anything; all our lessons and resources are made by staff in our department. They're good but I doubt they're much different from a good quality textbook, especially for things like grammar practice.

It does worry me how long some teachers up ad down the country may spend making resources that could be made just once and made available to all.

I know that differentiation is needed etc etc, but I do worry how many times the wheel must get reinvented for some topics.

HarrietSchulenberg · 27/05/2022 18:59

Textbooks that go home have a habit of not coming back and they're expensive.
Textbooks in classrooms get penises sharpied into them rendering them unusable.
Online resources are free or subscription for the whole school to use.

WeAllHaveWings · 27/05/2022 19:04

Ds(18) just finished secondary school (Scotland) and has had only 2 text books the entire 6 years he was there one each for higher chemistry and maths. Schools just do not have the money to buy and keep replacing lost/damaged copies.

Our kids will be growing up in a digital world, I rarely use paper at work now, school is as good a place as any to get used to it.

Natsku · 27/05/2022 19:04

I'm so glad my daughter's school uses textbooks (not UK) as she really does not like reading from a screen, and textbooks made lockdown learning so much easier, she just brought all her textbooks home and the teacher would tell them each day what pages they needed to do and she could just get on with it (and outside of lockdown, if she's off school ill for more than a day her teacher will give a classmate her textbooks to drop off in our postbox so she can catch up with missed work).
But schools are better funded here so they can afford the textbooks even if some of them are looking a bit tatty now (they also have workbooks which are obviously new each year for each child so those are fine but the read only textbooks can be a few years old)

CoralBells · 27/05/2022 19:07

I can fully understand them keeping textbooks in school as some kids would lose them or not bring them back. I've got used to my kids using online resources now, over the years, and they seem ok with it. They use the CGP books for revision that we buy.

CoralBells · 27/05/2022 19:09

Dd does have textbooks in sixth form, but we were told what we needed to buy rather than school supplied

XelaM · 27/05/2022 19:09

My daughter is in Year 7 and has textbooks for every subject (and a very heavy bag!)

Fairislefandango · 27/05/2022 19:09

Textbooks are expensive and they fall apart and get outdated - not necessarily in terms of the factual information they contain, but in terms of whether they fit with whatever the current fads in education happen to be. They are also seen by some as a prop for lazy teachers who should always be preparing their own original materials for all lessons all the time. They are also heavy and kids forget to take them home or bring them back.

But I think there's definitely a place for them, as long as teachers don't use them as the sole resource. I also don't think there's anything wrong with preferring online resources though.

musicviking1 · 27/05/2022 19:13

My son has a chromebook which is supposed to be locked down by the school so he shouldn't be able to get onto other websites apart from the ones school authorise - of course my son and his peers have got round this. His maths homework since year 7 (now year 10) is hegarty maths which is all online and I think there needs to be variation as he is bored. He only uses text books for English and parents buy all those. My son's school also uses classroom app and teachers put so many resources on there which I am always impressed by, I wish I had all those resources when I was at school.

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