Call for every pupil to have their own computer to end inequality between rich and poor
ScotlandIS wants to see widespread use of tablets in schools. Picture: Getty
SCHOOL pupils in Scotland should be given tablet computers to help close a “digital divide” which is opening up between the poorest and most affluent students.
The call has been made by ScotlandIS, the trade body for the country’s IT industry, which believes tablets costing as little as £60 could be handed out for use during lessons.
Tablets have been credited with increasing performance in schools and improving the sort of computing skills which are currently in high demand in the employment market.
One Scottish private school, Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, is already seeing positive results after introducing leased iPads for all students in 2010, a move it claims was a first anywhere in the world.
One of Scotland’s largest education authorities, Aberdeen, is already looking at ways of introducing devices such as smartphones and tablets into its classrooms.
Polly Purvis, executive director of ScotlandIS, said tablets could be introduced gradually, with the possibility that parents could be asked to contribute towards the costs. Although Apple’s iPads cost around £400, cheaper versions are on the market at around a quarter of the price and a version being produced for developing countries will sell for as little as £60.
“Realistically, you have to start somewhere, and that could be by gradually introducing them year by year,” she said.
“Teachers would have to be trained up to use them as well. For a number of reasons it would not be appropriate to have iPads as standard because they are very expensive. There are other devices out there, and we need to be realistic about this – it needs to be at a cost that schools can bear, as clearly they are strapped for cash.”
Purvis said there was a danger of a “digital divide” opening up between children who come from homes which have access to computers and the internet, and those who do not.
“It is worrying, particularly at the moment when the government is rolling out digital infrastructure. We don’t want young people to become disadvantaged in any way,” she said. “There are currently subjects like home economics where parents are asked to contribute towards the cost of materials. In many cases parents would need to contribute where they could.”
Fraser Speirs, head of computing and IT at the Cedars School of Excellence, said it currently cost £12.50 per month per pupil to lease iPads, which are used in everything from science experiments to art classes.
He said: “We introduced the iPad into lessons in August 2010, so we’re now in our second year. To the best of my knowledge, we were the first school in the world to go one-to-one with iPads.
“Every pupil in the school has an iPad which they treat as their own and which goes to lessons with them. We’re quite a small school, so any statistical analysis is difficult to do, but what we have seen is a much greater engagement in the classroom.”
However, he questioned whether opting for cheaper technology would ultimately be the most cost-effective decision for schools.
“The Chinese and Indian governments are making tablets for $100 (£63), but do they have the same quality of software? I also think the size of screen is important, and anything smaller than an iPad would be difficult to use. Smaller is not always better. You also have to remember that devices get superceded and cheaper devices are cheaper for a reason.”
According to ScotlandIS, the technology sector is under threat from a skills shortage and a “dwindling talent pipeline” from schools and universities. It says the number of school pupils taking computer-related courses in Scotland has dropped by 13 per cent since 2006, while the number looking to study computing at university has fallen by a third in the last decade.
The organisation wants to see computing embedded in the school curriculum from an early age as well as computing teachers being given access to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to help continually refresh their skills.
Aberdeen Council confirmed it was examining ways to introduce more technology into classes. A spokeswoman said: “As part of that work we are looking at a range of devices and how to use mobile technology that can be utilised in classrooms to enhance education delivery. We are looking at the suitability of a number of devices, including smartphones, handheld devices and tablets, across a range of platforms and software providers.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was up to local authorities to decide how to introduce technology in their schools. “The Scottish Government, alongside the education community, is currently considering how best to maximise the use of technology across Scottish schools.”
» cmarshall@scotlandonsunday.com
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Comments
There are 31 comments to this article
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Alan Craigie
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 12:59 PMWhy don't we just give everyone 40K a year and let them buy there own computers. Crazy Socialist won't be satisfied until we completely disincentivise life.
AuldLochinvar
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 10:26 PMI believe that one of Spain's least wealthy regions, Extremadura, has indeed a program, using free software, that makes computers available to all their schoolchildren.
AuldLochinvar
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 10:24 PMDear usernameandpassword -- is your real name Ann Onnniemuss? Anyway, I like the witticism in your alias. But I'll try to tell you of some of the educational advantages of Net access. As a wee boy in Edinburgh, I was anxious to learn how to do long division. I finally was taught it, and enjoyed it. But in the real world, it's more important to do estimates. Never mind the three R's, what the bairns need most is a sound grounding in skepticism. There are a lot of clever liars about. One of the neat things about a computer is, that if you don't like the drudgery of long multiplication, a spreadsheet will do it for you. If somebody tells you that the sun puts out , you can check it. It's actually true. What the solar power advocates forget is, that the Earth also has to get rid of more energy in an hour than human industry uses in a year, or it has to reach a temperature where it will radiate it away. It turns out that the only energy source that will provide enough to replace oil, methane, and coal, is nuclear breeder reactors. Scotland used to have one at Dounreay. But if you Google "Integral Fast Reactor Frontline" you'll learn about one that really worked, and was tested for its passive immunity to meltdown one week before the Chernobyl disaster. It passed with flying colours. And its waste per gigawatt-year is small in quantity and quite short-lived.
AuldLochinvar
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:07 PMThe best thing I bought for my daughters was quite possibly the Mac Plus computers I got them, so they could write essays and correct their spelling and layout without having to do as I did, given my poor small muscle accuracy and atrocious handwriting. We have since gone from 20 megabyte hard disks to upwards of two gigabyte RAM, and from 8 MHz to speeds measured in gigahertz. Didn't Chappit Tatties get free milk at school? I certainly did, even in Northern Ireland. But indeed, the web is probably the last bastion of freedom from absolute domination by bureaucracies both corporate and government, so let's make it accessible as cheaply as possible. Bertrand Russell in "In Praise of Idleness" points out that until recent times, a small minority of the wealthy and otherwise idle occupied themselves with the advances in knowledge that gave rise to modern society's comfort, and the abolition of slavery as unnecessary. The fact that most of them spent their leisure on worthless activities like foxhunting was not a significant cost.
Alan Craigie
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 05:17 PMI suppose we'll have to give them all free broadband too. Less incentive to have to get a job. Just sit around play and surf the web, have a few lagers and some reefer. Good thing we can print money.
Tartancult
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 05:44 PM#20 I don't know about chemistry or trigonometry, but the computer has been a great help in my German. Instant translation saves hours of thumbing through dictionaries and grammars---------------------------------------How do you how much it has helped unless you have a basis for comparison (which you obviously do not). You miss the whole point of learning and think that a passing knowledge, skimmed from the 'net somehow translates to knowledge. Like most, you want the easy way. Like most, you take the easy way. People like you don't have a working brain, you have access to the internet.
Overthescore
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 04:25 PMEach school will require a constantly replenished stock for those who daily arive with an excuse rather than their tablet computer. "A big boy broke it an' ran awa". "Av left it - at hame, oan the bus, at ma grannies". " The dug chewed it ate it". "Big ...... sat oan it an' noo it'll no gan oan"........... The list is long.
Billy Boy
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 04:20 PMRubbish, I case can be made for higher education, but for early education this is stupidity at its best, Teach them to think the old fashioned way, it does not rely on Electricity!
duelaynomore
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 03:15 PMI agree that technology should be pushed in the classroom, and you'd have to start with the teachers unfortunately.....So there's a big hurdle already.... But giving machines to all, to take home and lose, or sell, is asking for even more trouble. Will the state provide server access at home as well? ...............I'd prefer more teaching of manners, the three R's, and respect for others. If there is any overarching reason not to send your kids to a state school, it is due to these factors. If you can't inculcate these aspects of living in the home environment, or maintain them at school, an i-pad from the council will not solve our childrens' problems.
duelaynomore
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 03:05 PMMy sister's daughter refused to allow me to drive her to school because my car was not "nice". I told her she could take a bus if she prefered,..... she asked me which one !!!!. Now if she had a state provided i- pad she could work out which bus she needed on her own, if she could be bothered or had the extra 15 minutes to do the search online ( server access to be provided by the state as well I hope??). I'd rather they got tought manners and the three R's, and had a less "entitled " view on life. I'd prefer that they had to work or strive for something rather than just being handed it, for zero effort ( if it was lost or stolen..then we'd just shell out another I suppose).
Derryboy
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 03:00 PMI'd suggest that we ditch the "new technology and trendy teaching" and go back to the old methods of with the emphasis on the 3 r's. additionally, lets stop the social brainwashing where more emphasis is placed on multiculturalism than multiplication.
SINGAPOREAN
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 02:06 PM#17 I don't know about chemistry or trigonometry, but the computer has been a great help in my German. Instant translation saves hours of thumbing through dictionaries and grammars. I've learned the language much more quickly as a result. It sure beats book learning as far as I'm concerned. #19 Taxpayers are picking up bills every day for the results of social deprivation.
Pa broon
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 12:13 PMSounds a good idea: As long as the tax payer isn't expected to pick up the bill...
bannerfield
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 10:54 AMA tablet doesn't teach you any computing skills. No more than eating in expensive restaurants makes you a michelin-starred chef.
usernameandpassword
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 09:21 AMI don't understand. The only point in my education that I actually needed my own computer, other than to play games, was well into post graduate study. Can anyone explain how having your own computer makes you learn trigonometry, organic chemistry or irregular German verbs any better and faster than you can from a book?
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