iPads in Glasgow Schools

[Fantababy]

I've been reading that Glasgow are to issue all school pupils from P6 upwards with iPads. Anyone else heard this? I wonder how they're affording it, given the cuts in teacher numbers, budgets etc. It doesn't seem a very sensible budgeting priority.

www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/17271078.glasgow-schools-digital-strategy-to-see-54000-ipads-for-school-pupils/

I was at an open evening at a local school where it was mentioned. They said they had not received theirs yet. I think they said that Shawlands Academy had theirs. It was the first I had heard about it.

All S1s this year in Stirling Council area got chrome books. They have to look after them and keep them decent til they leave school

If they're going down the digital route buying ipads is an appaling waste of money. Surely any tablet will do just as well. They could get 3 or 4 tablets for the price of an ipad

I was thinking the same as you Redglitter Apple iPads will be expensive.

Sponsored by Apple? Will they be given your child's name? Will they be able to track your child, get access to their work?

Surely any tablet will do just as well.
That's my thinking. Apple products are very expensive and highly sought after - surely a cheaper tablet would be better, or a wee laptop? (If it is necessary for all young people to have anything).

I'm in Midlothian. DS1 is in p7 and has an iPad as he's dyspraxic. From the two p7 classes I think 4 kids have them.
I work in education in Edinburgh and a couple of schools I know issue them to all pupils.

It will be to do with the programmes/apps available too. My local authority provide chromebooks but iPads would be a lot more useful for the kids due to the apps that could be used. I've found some similar versions for chromebooks but not for everything. Apple also run sessions for the kids which could be great

I'd be delighted if my DS got one - he has dyspraxia.

I'm sure they will be heavily discounted/subsidised for schools.

Shawlands Academy is indeed the? a pilot school. It's been set up with wifi within the school to facilitate the iPads use. Iirc, the iPads themselves are heavily customised and restricted - but that one of the concerns that the school had is the insurance and safety issues for the pupils, as other people might not realise that these iPads are not "normal" ones and won't have any value outside of the educational environment.

Apple can heavily discount for educational use. They won’t be the price of an off the shelf ipad

Not Scotland but but all the schools locally from Y5 (P5 in Scotland 9-10 yo) have iPads, but we have to pay for them, can be instalments over 3 years but it's bloody expensive

Dd is in her first year of uni. But in 2012 her school gave toshiba tablets in S1. She then got an iPad in S3.

I work in a school nursery and I know there are class iPads that can be booked to use with the class but not taken home.

Ds is in S5 and got an iPad this year as he didn't want one the last 2 years that he could have had one.

All the first years in DSs school have been issued with Chrome books that they've to use all the way through school, surely they will be virtually unusable and valueless by the time they get to s6 anyway?

I'm interested in what happens when pupils (inevitably) break them. They don't generally take much care of anything else they're given in the classroom so I can't see iPads being any different. Will there be unlimited replacements?

Disclaimer: Obviously NAPALT

We had to pay to get it fixed. Was in the agreement we signed with the school, when we picked the iPad up.

Iirc, it's practicalities like that which are part of what the pilot at Shawlands will be working out. Don't know what the "contract" that the pupils/parents have to sign is like though.

meanwhile in my local authority there's barely enough pcs for one per teacher abd next to nothing available for the kids. Exam time is a nightmare as so many kids are entitled to type etc but we can't find the provision

@waxonfeckoff chromebooks aren’t like normal laptops it’s all internet based so nothing saved on hard disk to clog it up etc, DDs one is monitored and updated by the Council remotely so they run checks to see if it’s running okay etc

What state the outside and the keyboard will be in 6 years time is a different story!

(Are you Stirling Council too?)

Edinburgh high school. My boys had mini iPads. They started a pilot for 1class and then rolled out across all years.
Parents paid for cover. Repairs of chargers/iPad are paid for by parents.
The teachers swear by them.

Stoorie yes, Stirling council but youngest is in S6 so i've not been involved (and won't be). he is entitled to use ICT in the class as his handwriting is illegible but doesn't always.

But what if a parent either a) won't or b) can't pay for a cover or to fix a broken iPad? Are we to exacerbate the divide between rich and poor where more well off kids (who probably have access to an iPad anyway) have a school iPad and poorer kids don't?

Different schools may have different approaches, but I do know that Shawlands Academy Parent Council supplies funding for an "Achievement Fund" which the school uses at its discretion (and maintaining confidentiality) to ensure equal access for all its young people. So if there are costs to do with the iPads that parents can't not so sure about "won't" cover, that might be the sort of thing it would be used for.

But given that the use of the iPads is being integrated into both the teaching process and homework, if the pupils don't have a working iPad, it will make things difficult for them.

But that's the sort of thing I'd imagine a pilot is there to check out.

I have been quite shocked by this- it seems an absolute waste of money.
I would much rather see that money put into paying for more staff (particularly more EAL and ASN support) and actual resources.

The majority of Glasgow schools don't have wifi so a substantial refit has to take place to make the iPads viable.

What will happen to the children who can't or won't look after theirs? How many iPads will be sold off?!

I am also concerned about the iPads being taken home and used to access and then store inappropriate material. Whose responsibility is it to monitor this?

In the face of the women's equal pay campaign and the teachers' pay campaign, I think it's a waste of money.

I also don't think tinkering on an iPad really gives you any true computer skills.

Maybe they are required since a friend who's DC has missed a lot of school due to illness and has asked for support, just keeps being directed to BBC bitesize. She is now wondering what the point of teachers is if everything can be learned from BBC bitesize. I appreciate that that isn't the whole story and there are many dedicated teachers, I just think the system isn't working/is properly staffed etc