The big iPad in schools deception

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My child's school recently introduced iPads for all parents, effectively eliminating traditional textbooks and paper worksheets in favour of a fully digital approach. While I understand the move towards digital learning, I'm concerned that the costs are being transferred to parents in a private education setting. The school seems to raise fees but with this digital move they are also saving, a lot of money. I paid for the iPad. It seems that the school is heavily relying on digital technology, which I believe might not necessarily improve the quality of education. I'm skeptical about the idea that increased screen time will genuinely enhance the learning experience.
Are we inadvertently turning our children into screen-dependent individuals by providing them with iPads around the clock? iPads offer numerous distractions, and I'm concerned about the potential consequences of these constant digital engagements on our children.

Any opposing views?

Are you in a Oxfordshire school?

I lived in Australia for a while and this was an issue there. Whole primary subjects were completely dependent on iPads. I found the whole thing quite depressing.

There was a 'scheme' where parents could buy the necessary ipad at a discount through the school but no free iPads or anything like that.

My children's school has had iPads for about 7 years and it has worked brilliantly. One of my sons is doing A' levels and has used the iPad during his whole secondary education. Parents have to buy them but the school provides any apps that it requires and offers parents evenings to explain how to set up parental controls if needed.

From a practical perspective they have far less to carry to school each day and we can do homework anywhere. Academically they have access to larger range of textbooks, lots of revision websites, teachers make good use of different activities that they can do via iPad, work can be handed in as soon as it's finished and it doesn't get lost.

There is still a well used school library and the children are encouraged to read widely. Screen time has never been an issue for us.

Why can't the school publish tasks online that can be acessed from any home device like every other school? Seems an odd and costly choice, as in reality most of the software on the iPads will never be used for education purposes. It's not 24/7 though, complete the tasks and put devices away & control screen time. Kids do need to be IT literate and be able to make use of digital technology. Especially useful for ASN as there are lots of assisted, augmented technology and other accessible software.

Yes I agree with you. State school education is meant to be free. Parents should not have to but ipads, they are expensive.

We should be trying to get children to have less screen time , not more.

They don't need to use ipads instead of paper in order to become "IT literate".

Not too keen on it. One of my sons has been issued with a Chromebook, given to every student. But I don't know why - he has his own iPad and laptop and access to mine and my husband's PCs as well. Also I'd really like him to be using more handwriting as he's left handed and it's not as easy or natural for him to write so the more practice the better. I'm hoping they drop them soon, and offer them instead as home devices to anyone who could benefit from them.

I don't agree with it either but it seems to be in our school they can't afford the paper copies, or books, so get online snippets instead. Totally shit for my dyslexic children.

Interesting. I have been doing some digging and found quite a few mental health specialists calling out iPads and such devices as the biggest addiction in modern times impacting social skills and brain development in young people. The covid lockdowns encouraged the use of digital communication which has had many negative effects, including on sleep. The blue light emitted from digital screens interferes with the production of the sleep hormone melatonin in your body but also humans have not evolved to stare at screens for hours.
We do not yet know of the full impact on our eyes or brains or hormones.
I would prefer my children not to use them.

I agree with you OP but as my little sister who is in high school says
'move with the times'

DD has an iPad with keyboard for everything as she has severe dyslexia and hypermobile fingers so writing is painful and difficult. iPad was cheaper, lighter and more functional than a laptop (can photograph board, photograph graphs and annotate with e-pen etc).

It's been the single best intervention she's had and from failing everything all through primary, she's now in top sets and doing well at secondary.

You can set the iPad so they can't access other things. We provided DD's and her one for school is not internet enabled on site, and doesn't have any 'fun' apps or games installed.

If you build plenty of extra curricular into their lives they won't have time to be constantly glued to it, but some of the tech is brilliant.

She uses an app for tuning instruments, another gives her vast amounts of sheet music and scrolls it for her so no page turning needed, another has all the graphic design tools she needs for one of her GCSEs, and you can use it for audio books and Kindle.

Tech is here to stay, so better to embrace it and make use of the really good things on there.

Oh and you can install a filter to manage the blue light issue - it gradually turns on and off depending on the time of day.

What about families who can’t afford an iPad - outright or in instalments through a discount scheme? Or families with more than one child?

This happened with Dd's school in year 6. We bought one through the school at a discounted price. If the kids didn't have one they could use the schools ones during school then had to bring paper homework home instead of using an iPad.
Worst decision ever. She was addicted to the bloody thing. I hated it. Then off to high school and it was smart phones and now at Uni she has her phone and her laptop and everything there is online too.
Y6 was too young to introduce them I think. She was so much more active and into crafts and art before it came along. Even though she still draws on her lap top it's not the same.

My eldest is at a private school, was issued with an iPad in Y9 and has used in since, saving paper, being able to access resources online; it’s been great. In the pandemic it was his portal into school, so learning was seamless. Dc3 was at primary in the pandemic and her class used school tablets, and these were loaned to families without tablets during lockdown. We bought her her own iPad and she used that for school. Again, it was great and the primary used the iPads when they were back in the classroom.

if it’s done well, I think it’s useful.

Tech is here to stay
Only if we want it to.

It’s silly. I am mid 30s so suppose seen both sides of tech uprising. Love tech but pen and paper is more than that. I am currently learning a topic. You might be able to learn one bitsize topic on a tablet but you can’t coordinate between multiple web tabs, multiple documents, and various books all at the same time without effective note taking. Sure you can make notes also on a computer but that’s either a giant screen and two pages on screen or a lot of tiresome and time consuming flipping between tabs. And sometimes if it’s an important doc nice to print, highlight and note so you can refer to again and again. These are essential skills for complex later learning and work. Why are they avoiding pen and paper!!!

I have a 2 yo. Not going to support this when he goes to school.

Supplied free in my dc's Scottish primary.
They still use pen and paper for many tasks, but can do so much more with an iPad.

But you can use notes and an e-pen on an iPad to do exactly that... then save it and you have no scrappy bits of paper to lose.

Well obviously you can refuse at an individual level - but is that the best thing for your child when this is the way the world is moving?

We embraced touch typing and tech back in Y6 for SEN reasons and it's been hugely beneficial in more ways than just purely academic.

Laptops are provided to all students in my state school. It cost a lot to set up, but all resources can be put online and accessed at any time. Our reprographics bills have plummeted.

The dyslexic comment interested me. I have just started teaching an instrument to a dyslexic student who struggles to read the music. The SENCO installed or enabled a program on his laptop which would put different filters on his work. It has made a massive positive difference to him and his ability to access work.

The kids cannot put anything onto their laptops. The microphones are not great for speech and dire for anything musical, so I would be surprised if they were addicted to them. I am only too glad to turn Teams and OneNote off at the end of a day.

My school has done this and it’s awful. Lessons end up as a classroom of students silently sitting on iPads or laptops. Teachers are pressured to incorporate technology as much as possible into every lesson, even we have to unnaturally jam it into activities where it doesn’t belong. I’m not convinced at all that the introduction of laptops or iPads have any positive effect on learning.

I had the choice to send my DC to my private, IB curriculum school, at greatly reduced fees. The over-reliance on technology is one of the reasons we’ve chosen to send them to local French-speaking school. Vivre the paper handouts and textbooks!! It’s old school but it works.

I will say though, tech has really helped in the area of SEN. I fully support the use of tech as far as it benefits SEN students.

use of IT instead of pen and paper comes with a whole host of negative impacts, such as poor development of organisation, spatial skills, dexterity, planning ability, and many other issues.
Children educated like this end up quite handicapped in all of these ways

A load of pants. I have multiple iPads. Even my a4 iPad Pro which is over £1000 worth of computer is not a match for pen and paper.

Interesting - do you have any links to studies on this?

We have found a massive improvement in executive function through use of tech - online calendars, homework apps, planning apps etc. And they give alerts and can't be lost. (DD has ADHD as well as the dyslexia and hypermobility).