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 completely agree. Here we are trying to keep boundaries on screen time, keep the kids living in the 3 dimensional world, and there they are ramming screens at them at any and all opportunities.
I was absolutely shocked that our councils parental permission form included a section which asked me to agree the school was not responsible for any inappropriate material my 7 year old child might access using IT at school! The brass neck of all brass necks.
And they used Tik Tok at school assembley last year too. That went down like a fart in a lift with the parents.

My dd is 27, and I still remember her lessons showing occasional YouTube video and she also used Mathletics. But there is a big difference between watching a short YouTube video on a rainy day or to supplement a specialist lesson, and using a learning software program for a small period of time to being reliant on technology for teaching.

I don't look up YouTube for personal reasons on a work device - but yeah having the same login isn't ideal. I do so much research from home though it's a pain to log in and out

This issue aside, are you happy with the school?

apparently they are spending a chunk of every day on the ipads.

who said this? The school?

Our school is similar - even homework is online and they giving letters for parents saying year 2 kids doesn't know how to write and advising to limit screen time at home. School should be with ZERO screen.

This bothers me too. And i don't like the fact that Apple push their tech in schools either, it's a cynical marketing ploy to get kids hooked on all the ultra expensive i- products.

The school sounds shite. My kid’s primary school does have the whiteboard screen at the front of the classroom but everything else is in exercise books. DS2 is still in primary btw so Im not talking about donkeys years ago.
I’d ask to see their learning policies and the evidence based studies showing that 5 year olds on a bloody iPad all day is a suitable method of education.

there is no option to move schools, that's not how it really works around here from what i can tell. we do have a private school about 45min drive away but it's not huge and it is very expensive - nowhere near the level of income we'd need for that to be an option (as in - the fees are higher than our salary combined!). so that's a good point and TBH if we were still in the city where I grew up then that WOULD be an option because there are more middle ground fee paying schools available (i'm not saying cheap, but more options to suit different means). here it's just not possible.

Check the council website regarding moving schools. It’s a simple process.

Normal in Scotland.

Granted I'm not in Scotland (England) but I'm quite shocked that (a) they literally give every kid an ipad - surely that's a huge upfront cost!?; and (b) that so much learning is done on an ipad at such a young age!

For comparison, my youngest is 5 and now in Yr 1 (so second year in primary school) and whilst I'm aware they sometimes watch Numberblocks/Alphablocks on the interactive whiteboard, they haven't used ipads or anything themselves yet. Most work is done on paper, or whiteboards so far. We've had actual books for reading at home, which are part of the schools' adopted reading scheme.

My eldest is in the final year of primary (Yr6). We have used 2 apps for homework so far, and these were introduced in Yr4 - Times Table Rock Stars and a special homework app where the teacher sets maths and english comprehension questions weekly. We have to use our own devices for this and log in.

Yes, it is. BUT all the local authority schools in Scotland are the same. Particularly as OP is unlikely to be able to move to a different authority, more likely a different school in same authority, with same iPad usage.

Absolutely this!

Tech has it's place, but children learn best when using their bodies to write, hold books, play physically etc. it's to do with how their brains work when they are young. To remove pencil and paper is to the detriment of their learning.

We just don't do app based homework tasks.

Wow this is depressing to read!

what would happen if the ipads were to be accidentally broken?

There’s no need for any of it though is there?

Sounds very odd. What sort of school is this?

This is a normal council school, it's not special in any way. No alternative near us, the school is the school, unless we want to go private at a few times our net salary (not doable). Even if there was another school it's all under the same council so the same iPad policies and move towards using them for so many parts of the education delivery would still apply in the same way presumably. It's not like there's a different option here, the council education department runs them all or you go private

Local authorities schools in Scotland. NO OPT OUT.

@LainaDelBoyits great you have put this here because all the disbelief echoes what so many of us have been saying and the more awareness the better.

again, I’d urge and recommend any of you who want to know more and help to join unplug Scotland. It’s a website which you then link to a WhatsApp group. The experiences and data are terrifying. And I’m not a tech free house.

Parents have to sign to say they will pay for repairs before their child can take it home. If you don’t sign your child’s iPad stays in school.

I knew from the first post this would be Scotland….

I did quite a lot of research into the effectiveness of Ed tech for teaching children with dyslexia. The findings were clear and unambiguous ie that none of it led to any improvements in reading, writing or comprehension. It’s not rocket science, but the only intervention that made any difference was 1:1 time with a well trained teacher.

As education publishing firms saw their revenues drop as schools stopped using textbooks, they pivoted to Ed tech but it does not result in improved student learning. Far from it. It has, on balance, a negative effect.

Edited to add link to BBC article on Sweden reverting to paper and pen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly0vk77vdko