To be sick of school directly undermining me

[LainaDelBoy]

I’m at my wits end and really need some external perspective from people outside my local school/council area. (I moved to another part of the UK to raise my children, so this is not the school system I went through myself and isn't an area where there's much school choice - if you're not happy, you pay to go private it seems).

Since starting school at five, DD has routinely used a school-issued iPad (no one told me this would happen). I gradually discovered, mainly through what she told me rather than information from the school, that she had been signed up to all sorts of platforms and apps without me knowing/us being asked to approve.

It seems she has watched YouTube during lessons (I've regularly heard they've done PE on YouTube/"music" I've learned is often a sing along Disney song with the words at the bottom? etc) and come home talking about things seen in adverts. Some of the apps have coins, rewards and "friend" features which was a lovely (!!) sudden introduction to class bullying to deal with. and she's been using AI tools on the thing, but school haven't ever told me what it is/why/and I still don’t know what that tool was.

This week, another mum has just confirmed that the school ipads DO also all have email addresses through which they could message one another (although kids like mine age 5 aren't told the passwords for a couple of years yet - thankfully apaprently).

and tonight she's just come home talking about reading a book at school, only for a few questions later for it to bcome clear that it's not a BOOK book, it's another bloody ebook they scroll through on the ipad.

Stepping back a bit: I feel as though the school and council have taken away my ability to manage how much screen time my DD gets, while telling me I have "no legal right to opt out" of so much screentime at school when I asked about toning it down last year (I didn't ask for specifics, I just asked about the messaging stuff, and how much time they were on the iPad for typically).

We game a lot as a family (consoles/etc so i'm not anti-screens generally), but i just feel like there's a constant barrage of poorly done apps, videos and AI without clear limits or safeguards in her classrom. I don't know if it's like this in all schools.

In the UK, would you consider this "normal" or acceptable? Have other parents successfully asked for reduced digital screen learning/alternatives? AIBU to keep challenging it (the council are quite adament that their policy has zero flex)?

I don't know where to go from here and i don't want to be "that parent" but there are so many red flags here but i don't know if to keep pushing on it?

I would be looking for another school too. Not only is it lazy teaching, who knows what damage using screens at such a young age does to children’s eyes.

How much screen time do you estimate at school per day? Because everything you have listed are completely normal activities in my school, the only difference is that we are returning to paper books from tablet ones this year. But we use YouTube for PE, Music and occasional downtime. However it's a handful of lessons a week, not all day everyday.

It's likely they are doing lots of paper based activities too, and your daughter is excited by the tablet so talks about that?

It might be worth bearing in mind that 5 year olds aren’t always the most reliable narrators. What may have been 5 minutes of Twinkle/Floppy’s Phonics/YouTube whilst the class transitions to lunch or another activity can easily be reported back by a 5 year old as an entire lesson. During a phonics lesson on the carpet, it’s far easier to display books on an electronic whiteboard, rather than rely on a class of 25-30 small children to look at 1 book held up by the teacher.

Teacher here and I don't know any school that gives every school and iPad!

The eBooks....we are forced to use a phonics scheme (we can choose from a list) and every child needs a book matched with their phonics phase/sound they are learning. You either have them all on the same and need 30 of each book which isn't reasonable due to cost. It they are all on different and it's a minefield as they get lost, damaged it borrowed by another class never mind the time to sort and match the right book to the right child. Having them online and able to assign the right book to the right child almost instantly is amazing and will really help their reading develop quickly.

I now teach an SEN class and mine do have their own iPad but over the school day probably use it for 30 mins. 5 mins maths, use of speech to text or voice recording to record their work (some have physical disabilities) or snapping a quick pic of a practical activity they have done. They have ed shed which is an app for spelling practice. They all have different spellings so this way they can have individualised activities at the correct level.

I don’t think this is typical at all. I wouldn’t be worried about the e-books; my kids have had those and they’re great because they’re very interactive and can check that the child has understood what they’re reading. Likewise the odd session of Numberblocks or Alphablocks on a wet day or for a few minutes from time to time - fine.

But I wouldn’t be happy about YouTube with ads, and definitely not with apps where they can “friend” and message people. And in general I don’t like them having too much screen time - certainly wouldn’t want each child to have an iPad!

Id definitely be questioning it.

I agree with you re ebooks and disagree with the idea that they are also books. They are not, yes there is also reading involved but there is reading involved in scrolling on a phone too. Even if it's good content in the ebook there is something very different about swiping and turning a page. On one hand educators harp on about sensory experiences then at the same time we take these experiences away. Reading a real book has a weight, it requires a certain posture, it requires light and varies depending on where you go, it has a smell, the pages have a texture. The words and meanings might be the same but the experience is very different. In a world where so much time is spent on screen with no sensory element, I feel it is more important than ever that children read real books or at least a combination of the two.

I don’t think it’s right but it’s becoming normal, more and more schools are using technology in favour of old fashioned books and textbooks. By the time they reach high school it’s ridiculous how much they do online, all homework, lots of lessons on computers it’s sad how the world is changing!

Central Bedfordshire?

We use Numberblocks at school. It is actually part of the National Mastering Numbers program. We also show a CBBC story at home time to keep the children engaged as we show children out.

Do they actually use iPads, or just tablets? I guess iPad is these days what Hoover was when I was a kid...

I’m a primary teacher here who’s done a lot of supply teaching. This is not typical at all in primary schools. Usually they just use laptops or iPads a little bit for computing and perhaps spelling/times tables games.

Wow. If this is true, I'm incredulous and things have obviously changed a lot in only 15 years since my dc started school.

I would not like this.

Do they read actual books at all? I mean, surely, they do?

I do not object to iPads one bit, we all need to learn how to use them this sounds way too much screen activity.

Good for you for querying this, OP.

My child’s school didn’t have iPads for each of the children, but their maths homework was online (mathletics - you earn coins and can buy outfits for your avatar, and then TTRS.)
the e-books thing was to do with phonics, I can’t remember exactly what the website was, as this was reception - year 2.

I didn’t concern me, as it was all educational.

Perhaps see if any other schools in your area use iPads less, and can accommodate your daughter.

With the YouTube yoga example, I think yoga is a great thing to start young, but it would cost much more to get a RL instructor in, but just watching TV's not the best way to spend your education.

Having said that, I'm too lazy to do yoga, and television taught me everything I know!*

(*slight exaggeration there)

Also, it may be worth asking her teacher directly just how much they are using tablets. Primary school children aren’t always the most reliable with their recollection of the school day! 🤣

I'd hate this and I'd look for another school. And I was a teacher. I also wouldn't work in a school like that.

There is loads of research to show that reading the printed word is preferable to a screen.
Tech has its place but this school sounds ridiculous.

YANBU. I do supply teaching so I can be in a year one class one day and then a different year one class the next day. Some schools use technology sensibly and sparingly and others use it all of the time. I know that if the instructions left for me say put something on the board for when they come in’ I’m in for a day of screens. Some classes can’t listen to a story from a book because they are used to everything being on a screen.

I’m all for kindles/ reading apps used alongside paperbacks, but only using screens seems like a huge step back! I think you’ll find the principal is a tech head, in the same way our principal is sporty so the world in our school became about sports

Why on earth do kids need to earn coins for Maths homework? Utter nonsense.

To make it a fun game, rather than a chore.
more time spent answering questions = more coins to buy your avatar a fancy little hat to wear.

makes perfect sense to me.

YANBU to have not had the school make it clear how they use technology in learning.

Have you taken a look at the school’s digital safeguarding policy?

it doesn’t sound as if you know what APPs they are using. Can you find out first and then look into the security from there?

knowledge is power and you may find that everything is being done safely to put your mind at rest. Or you may find specific things to talk about to focus your conversation

I don't like it either, but it's the way the UK is going and I'm not prepared to home school so have to put up with it!

I hope we quickly see sense and do a u turn like Sweden.