Do your primary schools issue Chromebooks/other devices?

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My kids’ primary has recently announced a plan to start introducing Chromebooks.
I’m really saddened by this as kids should be getting less screen time, not more!!😔 I can see it might be convenient but handwriting and concentration are bound to suffer. I also fear it will lead to cuts of other things eg art/science experiments. The school struggles to fund equipment now, by the time they’ve blown the budget on Chromebooks they’ll be nothing left.

Am interested to hear experiences of people whose primary schools are using devices - is it as bad as I fear? Maybe parents like it if it gives them an easy life.

thanks

Yes Chromebooks issued in P7 to get them used to them for high school.

absolutely essential for high school

Scottish government policy to roll them out for every pupil.

Thanks. We’re in England, the Secondaries all seem to vary - some issue devices, others
expext you to supply your own. I’m not sure if all Secondaries use devices from day 1 though.

In the primary they want a phased introduction starting with year 3 - 7 year olds! Very different from preparing for secondary.

DDs school all had personal tablets but they lived in school.

The majority still used pen and paper for most things, but some stuff was done in apps etc. Plus some pupils with dyslexia etc could use them for longer bits of writing.

They have at a local primary in Year 5, so they then have them for high school. Only Y7's have them at the moment in DS school, but they are going to go up the school with them.

As someone who deals with the science budget for a high school I can see how actually this mite save schools money. Especially considering they are talking about GCSE's going digital (AQA are talking about some subjects being online as early as next year). I've seen our printing budgets and with the cost of paper and ink going up but technology coming down they could easily even out costs.

I agree with you OP given many kids are on iPads a lot at home anyway and we are supposed to limit screen time to prevent addiction/shorter attention/concentration etc it seems counter productive. And as you say these children could lose handwriting skills.

It seems to vary hugely around here - London/Kent borders. One DS secondary school do not issue chrome books, the other DS secondary school issues them to every student in year 7. My DD’s primary school also issue them to everyone in year 3 - She is year 2 so not sure how much they use them in school but they are supposed to charged at home every night and in school every day so presumably a fair amount. Another local primary also issues them from year 3, whilst the primary school my teens went to did not - apart from during Covid for those who didn’t have enough devices at home! So it must be becoming more common.

Yes p5 (age 8/9) upwards all get an iPad. It's paid for from a central budget not by the school.

It's good as it means everyone has access to the same tech, no faffing with permissions and devices and different software etc. Everyone can access the homework too, which before p5 it caused so many issues with access on home devices.

They don't spend a huge amount of time on iPads as far as I gather but the things they do are well thought through and intentional. Tech is part of life now so it's positive for children to learn those skills.

Brilliant idea - especially for SEN kids.

DD has had laptop since Y6 (SEN including dyslexia and hypermobile fingers) and used it throughout secondary.

So many of the SEN kids who are supposed to use laptops in secondary refuse to as they don't want to look different from all the others or draw attention to their problems.

If everyone was using them then this issue disappears.

New online exam papers all sound like a great idea. DD says it's a real faff when half the paper is short answers that she could use a pen for and the rest long answers.

Do you do your job using pen and paper?

How would your employer react to you submitting a handwritten report?

Children don't need to learn beautiful cursive script, they need to be adept at using technology.

The reasons for limiting screen time isn't because screens themselves are harmful, it's because screens are the medium which delivers passive entertainment, addictive games which skew dopamine expectations, doom-scrolling through endless short videos destroying concentration spans and self-esteem damaging social media; in short, many of the worst things that children can be doing to their brains are accessed via a screen.

Googling Vikings, making posters about being eco friendly and typing stories doesn't fall into that category.

Our primary school had a bank of 30 tablets that could be used in lessons, not one per child but if there was a particular lesson where it was useful they’d bring them in. They also had an it room with 15 computers. Nearly everything done paper and pen etc.

In their secondary school they are also mostly paper and pen. Some kids have a laptop issued for various SEN type needs. Sometimes they have a lesson in the computer rooms. But they don’t use laptops or chromebooks or tablets routinely at all. Classroom work is in books.
They’re generally expected to have access to a computer or device of some sort out of school, though I think there are possibly alternatives for those who don’t. Mine do a fair bit of homework online (maths sites, language practice, occasional quizzes). And a fair bit is still written.

At sixth form college they do nearly everything on paper too. They use devices more - they can get phones out or tablets in class for some work - but it’s not the typical way of working. Offered our son to take his lightweight laptop in but he said no need. They have a huge computer room space with enough room for as many as want to to go to work in there in free periods.

You might think so. But sadly there’s increasing evidence to the contrary.

eg:
UNITED NATIONS REPORT: LITTLE EVIDENCE THAT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTS EDUCATION AND EXCESSIVE SCREENTIME IS HARMFUL TO CHILDREN
(their shouty caps not mine) https://ehtrust.org/united-nations-report-little-evidence-that-digital-technology-supports-education-and-excessive-screentime-is-harmful-to-children/

An ed-tech tragedy? Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19
”The recourse to screen-reliant education during the pandemic was largely a disaster and had numerous adverse effects on children, however unintended.”

Reliance on screen-based education led to “diminished engagement, reduced achievement, digital addiction, increases in dropout, curtailed conversation, less inclusion, private sector capture of education, supercharged inequalities, new forms of invasive surveillance, and much more”
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386701

“We are letting schools poison our children”

”“There’s clear scientific evidence that digital tools impair rather than enhance student learning” - Sweden’s Karolinska Insitute, which is a world leading research institution.

Interestingly Finland and Sweden, which are both feted as countries with very high educational standards, are now ditching devices in the classroom and reverting to a paper-based education.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d11cd6f5-8327-4875-9403-c35de3824d5c?shareToken=fecf8eba085eceeaadac2fb2bc97bfb9

See also “Jonathan Haidt: ‘Anything you do digital in schools is worse“
https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/jonathan-haidt-digital-worse-technology-in-schools-children-and-phones-risk

Children need ICT lessons, they absolutely do not need to do any other learning using computers. Even if you want to study a computer science degree, many universities prefer you NOT to have done A Level computer science (or don’t care if you’ve done it).

At school we had ICT lessons, and I learned to touch type but that was the extent to which IT was used in the classroom. I’ve easily picked up all the additional IT skills I’ve needed as an adult (and I work in a role that involves a lot of specialist IT).

As for your comment about lovely cursive handwriting, there is also clear evidence that learning is more effective when you take handwritten notes than if you type them, eg:

https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/handwriting-shows-unexpected-benefits-over-typing/

And:
“Despite the advantages of typing in terms of speed and convenience, handwriting remains an important tool for learning and memory retention, particularly in educational contexts”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/

So a brilliant idea it sadly ain’t @OhCrumbsWhereNow

I fundamentally disagree.

The move is more and more to increased tech.

Although I suspect the fact my child is a fast touch typer, knows their way round word, excel, power point and a vast range of editing software as well as specialist design and video editing software might just level the playing field for her a bit at 6th form next year.

In GCSE exams, when she suddenly remembers that important point she should have stuck in question 3, she can just scroll back and add it in. No crossing out, stars to indicate inserted paragraphs etc. It's a much more normal, real world way of working.

Given she can't handwrite due to her fingers dislocating, I am extremely thankful for the wonders of modern technology.

Plus everything at secondary school is on apps - homework, behaviour, messages. Most revision is now supplied as online resources (Sparxs Maths, Seneca, Memrise) and videos. They don't have text books anymore.

Our private school introduces them from Yr4 and they stay in school. Homework is online for 2 nights a week so requires either a suitable device at home or staying in school to complete homework.

From what I’ve seen of their handwritten workbooks when I visit the school, the vast majority of lessons are still done the old fashioned way with pen and paper.

I think it’s great for certain parts of maths and spellings, allows the more advanced kids to crack through more stuff and no issue for the kids needs to take a bit more time.

Putting aside your DD’s fairly specific needs (and I understand why she is your priority and focus):

You’re not remotely concerned about numerous pieces of peer-reviewed research from highly respected institutions that have concluded that screen-based education is detrimental and/or positively harmful for multiple reasons?

Wow.

I would be profoundly depressed and appalled if the secondaries which I hope my kids will attend is had everything “on apps - homework, behaviour, messages. Most revision is now supplied as online resources (Sparxs Maths, Seneca, Memrise) and videos.”
Thankfully the schools are not currently like this and I will be campaigning hard to keep it that way!

”They don’t have text books any more”

Horrifying, genuinely horrifying.

Around here most primary schools require you to purchase a iPad and then a laptop 🙂

No I'm not concerned, because I have seen - with my own eyes - the huge benefits of tech for my child, and for many others.

I suspect you may be even more horrified when you get to secondary. There has been a massive increase in a move to tech since DD was in Y7. I know lots of schools, state and private, where all students are issued with a laptop at the start of Y7 and that is the normal way of working.

We found that an ipad with keyboard case and e-pen is actually the better option: lighter weight, holds a charge all day (and all month for the keyboard) and the photo function means you can take photos of the board, graphs, diagrams etc, add them to your doc and then annotate them using the e-pen.

Like other Scottish posters, my DCs have a Chromebook issued by the school, I think in p5. DS1 is 17 and when he got his due to ASN, they were just bringing this in. I think it’s generally a good thing, they can all access homework via google classroom etc.

There's a huge difference between all learning being via a screen as it was during Covid, and children using screens as tools to record learning and verify facts.

University students also submit all of their work via screens, most are not producing handwritten notes, and yet people are still passing their degrees with flying colours.

My DD’s primary school had school only iPads when she attended. The year she moved up to secondary, they switched to issuing every student a personal iPad to take home and use at school. Secondary students have MacBooks.

It works really well. We have a tech support call service if there are any issues, which are rare.

Teachers put almost all assignments online even if they are also available on paper which is absolutely fantastic for special needs children. Paper gets lost so easily. Many SN children also have handwriting fatigue and have typing provisions in their education plans. It’s so much easier to do assignments this way and the SN kids are just integrated with the class.

I also recommend you read your own links.

“The report shows that some technology can support some learning in some contexts, but not when it is over-used or inappropriately used. In particular, the use of smartphones can disrupt learning in classrooms. One study looking at pre-primary through to higher education in 14 countries found that it distracted students from learning. Even just having a mobile phone nearby with notifications coming through is enough to result in students losing their attention from the task at hand. One study found that it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on what they were learning once distracted. ” –UNESCO Smartphones in school? Only when they clearly support learning

"Haidt answered enthusiastically: “I can say with some confidence that it’s going to be really helpful...To give them six hours a day away from the screen has got to be good for them.”
But he couldn’t offer evidence to support his point."

Not to mention the damage that carrying bags of textbooks does to developing muscles and bones!

Our school uses Chromebooks from year 3 but it’s not ‘screen based learning’. It’s a couple of specific things, Times Tables Rockstars, researching about a topic, things like that. Not every lesson and I’m not sure it’s every day. All subjects still have hand written exercise books, the tech is there to support, not replace.

I’m assuming most schools are similar and don’t do most work typed.

We can afford it but I wouldn't be buying these for primary school.

I’d already already made clear in my posts that I’m not objecting to the use of all IT in schools so the first half of that long quote, which I had already read thanks, really isn’t the slam dunk you think it is. (Perhaps you should try reading things in full eh? 😉).

Are you suggesting that because mobile phones in the classroom is a really bad thing then it follows that computers in the classroom is a good thing? Odd suggestion if so, but perhaps you were trying to make another point. Much of the research itself focuses specifically on computers not phones.

I also didn’t say anywhere that there’s scientific evidence that kids need 6 hours away from a screen (though I suspect we will end up with evidence to that effect). So not sure of the relevance of the Haidt quote either. Of course not having evidence doesn’t mean it’s untrue (or that it’s true)..

Do you have anything better in response? Because I do try to be open minded about things unlike some of the other posters on here seemingly.

Everything nicely stored on the cloud, no scrappy bits of soggy paper at the bottom of the bag. No lost text books and no 'the dog ate my homework' either!

If people would prefer their children not to use tech for school then great, but I will fight hard to prevent them from trying to reduce the opportunities for others.

I didn't say "because mobile phones in the classroom is a really bad thing then it follows that computers in the classroom is a good thing". I posted the direct quote from the research saying that there is no evidence that computers in the classroom is a bad thing.

"I also didn’t say anywhere that there’s scientific evidence that kids need 6 hours away from a screen". Then what is the point of this post? There's no evidence that children using screens for learning purposes in a classroom is a bad thing. There is obvious benefits to using technology in the classroom, so until there is evidence, there's absolutely no reason to stop.

You are the one that's come here with the assertion that children using Chromebooks is a problem, you need to come up with the research to prove it is, and the research you've linked to does no such thing.