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?

Not normal here.
We were watch YouTube for topic related clips, movement breaks and sometimes PE (yoga). We also sometimes use a relevant numberblocks.
We barely have enough working devices to use for computing lessons let alone for each class to have their own set! Computing usually begins in year 2, but more often year 3.

This is bleak.

what’s your local council?

seems like deeply lazy and poor teaching to me. I’d be really really cross. I think as adults we forget the tactile skills we miss by doing EVERYTHING on a smart phone or tablet. Even turning pages of a book.

I don't think this is normal al all! In my daughter's school they use ipads for some stuff but it is minimal and there are no ipads being used for most of the day, and definitely don't use it for youtube or anything with friends features!

I would also be very unhappy about this.

There is a school near us that is heavy on technology and uses it for everything. Even to the extent that the older kids actually do their work on iPads and it gets uploaded for the teacher to mark - no actual writing involved. It seems very similar to the school you are describing. I didn’t put it as a choice for my son for that reason. They were very proud of the fact they were using all the state of the art technology but it just seemed like a red flag to me. I want my children to learn by doing, not by looking at a screen.

His school doesn’t use laptops until year 3, however I did complain last year when he was in reception and found out the PE lessons consisted of watching a Danny Go or yoga episode. I wouldn’t mind the odd one is the weather is horrendous but not every week. They also don’t alot of time watching Andy’s adventures on iplayer. Schools do seem to use a lot of technology nowadays and I do think the use of YouTube in particular is an issue but it also depends on the teacher. I think his reception teacher just couldn’t be bothered to do anything that made their life a bit more difficult. My son’s Year 1 teacher is fantastic, she does use technology but in a balanced way. He’s been telling me about all the fun things he has been doing which is a direct contrast to last year when all I heard was ‘we watched numberblocks’ or ‘we did Danny go’

I wouldn't like this at all! Have you talked to her teacher about your concerns? Just make an appointment, say you'd like to understand what they're using and how much, and for what benefit. It might not be as bad as you think. See what they say and if not happy take it from there.

It does sound like a lot of screen time doesnt it

Dd is 5 in year 1 and I just asked her if she has used an iPad or tablet at school and she said “noooo!” Like it was a ridiculous idea. I wouldn’t expect tablet use as routine at that age and throughout primary would expect that they didn’t have excessive use of them. I know they watch occasional videos. I thibk I’d just ask the teacher about it (in an “I’m just interested…” way rather than accusing) to see how much they actually use them.

This for sure.

I am going to guess Scotland. Join unplug Scotland. It’s a HUGE concern

Yes it's bullshit
My school trust also dishes them out. Can't help thinking it's just really lazy teaching. All of kids have them and their handwriting is terrible. They use these stupid drawing pens to do some really uncreative scribbling on the iPad and that seems to be it. I thought you did have to agree though, I had to sign something.

Oh I hate this @LainaDelBoy and feel for you. I work in tech but try and reduce screentime for my child as much as poss. My son is 3 and I'm thinking about looking about the screen time side of things for his primary school options as I'd rather as little screen time as possible. Don't have suggestions for you but just my sympathies.

Sorry but I think the book thing is awful! My son’s school is a tiny village school but can still find 30 physical books of the same reading level to hand out to the children. Does your school not have a library?

I'm in Scotland. So devolved to Scottish government yes.

Yes that's the app for email access: "glow"!!
I'm really not anti tech and I've asked to dial it down by speaking to them. I was told that parents don't have the legal right to opt out of the iPads, it's not like religious education or sex education (apparently). When I asked our teacher how much screen time they have they were a bit evasive and didn't really answer, so I put it in writing by asking what apps they're using and how I'm concerned, but the legal position sounds like I either need to lump it or go private, which isn't an option!
To answer questions, sorry I can't keep up, but they're actual iPads, apple, it's not me using the word for tablet.

And my daughter was talking about the adverts that she'd seen on YouTube so it doesn't seem to be a paid version (she mentioned a brand I had no idea she knew about and I asked her how she knew it)

I have never signed anything for them to use iPads in school no

We don’t do the maths learning that is assigned on a gamified app where they do maths to gain coins to spend. I told the teacher that at 5/6 I felt it wasn’t appropriate, they were indifferent and I got the impression they had to assign something.

We do other activities to reinforce the learning like playing shops with coins, playing board games with dice for number bonds and bought a watch for practicing the time.

Look up ‘Steven Jobs schools’ in the Netherlands. Completely failed experiment of using iPads in education - now abandoned.

@Pigriverscotland. Standard. Huge battle ongoing

DS,s school like to get very sanctimonious about screens and not letting them have phones. All well and good.

But….all the homework is on apps. Half the lessons seem to be internet videos or work on apps. All the reading is on an app. The schools meals are paid for via an app. Ditto the bus ticket to get to school.

The Soarks reader app has utterly destroyed DS’s love of reading and has now done the same for Dnephew

then we get another patronising email about not letting them have phones and limiting screen time

They are popular around here in secondary schools. Some more than others.
Lazy teaching.

Not normal here, my kids have always come home with mountains of books/paperwork at the end of the year, and still go to the school library once a week to change their reading books.

Been a TA in reception class for over a year now and the only time we use iPads is to take pictures to upload to parents on the school class platform.
We use the interactive whiteboard for class games like number locks ect and we do look up class related topics, and we do a daily music time with Danny go or something to get the children moving but the children have no access to iPads at all.

I think technology is inevitable, everything is online now. But in moderation, and with purpose.

None of the schools local to me (England) are like this, even at high school. There is absolutely no evidence that any of the screen-based learning is actually of benefit to children. Even if there were a clear benefit, it's outrageous for school to use apps with adverts and to regularly show kids tv instead of actually giving them real PE lessons or educating them.

Glasgow City Council gives every child an iPad. Obviously each school will use them differently but unless the OP pays for private, saying "just change school" is not that straightforward. She would need to go to another local authority - if she can get a place - and travel potentially considerable distances each day.

Also, those iPads are contributing to this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89j0899785o