Edinburgh prep school goes virtually tech free after 'heart breaking' impact of screens
Head master Colin MacIntosh believes he did pupils a disservice in former schools by introducing EdTech
A prominent Scottish prep school is to go ‘virtually tech free’ over concerns about the “heart breaking” impact of screens on children.
Cargilfield School, the oldest private junior school in Scotland, has all but banned tablets and laptops from lessons.
The move has been introduced by headmaster Colin MacIntosh who warns children are being failed by an over-reliance on technology in education.
Mr MacIntosh says tech is undermining pupils’ ability to concentrate, think independently and develop essential learning skills.
He now plans to take a different approach, returning almost exclusively to pen and paper.
Teachers are barred from having screens - such as televisions - in their classrooms unless they are explicitly being used.
It is a complete u-turn from the experienced school leader.
Mr MacIntosh said: “I came from a school down south, and I feel really awful because I introduced more screens, wrongly.”
He said schools face pressure to keep up with tech, particularly moving to one-to-one devices, but he adds: “The second there's a screen in the room, it just takes their attention.”
Mr MacIntosh said: “It's heart breaking, really, what we're doing to these kids.
“It seemed like the right thing at the time, but now we know the dangers. It's inexcusable to keep on pressing ahead.”
Last year the school was named the top prep school in the UK by Tatler magazine.
Cargilfield takes children from nursery up to the age of 13 and many of its alumni go on to famous boarding schools such as Harrow, Rugby and Eton.
In fact, the school now follows Eton in cracking down on screen use.
Prince George’s boarding school recently announced tighter restrictions on school-issued iPads after parents complained their children were developing screen addictions.
Mr MacIntosh said the decision to scale back screens had been an easy one and said the school was working towards a position where technology would play only a very limited role in teaching.
Staff who wish to introduce educational apps must justify why they believe they will benefit pupils with no guarantee the ask will be green lit.
Boredom, he said, is important for pupils and will make a return.
“We’ve lost the value of just sitting and doing nothing, thinking,” he added.
Mr Mackintosh has identified four priorities for the school's approach to learning: reading words from a page rather than a screen, writing with a pen or pencil instead of typing, keeping digital devices at a distance when they are not being used, and learning difficult skills that require time and sustained effort.
The head teacher said parents had been overwhelmingly supportive of the school's direction, with prospective parents particularly attracted by it.
Pupils have also responded positively.
His concerns extend beyond classroom distractions to the wider implications of children's access to technology, including online safety and exposure to inappropriate material.
As reported in The Scotsman, pupils using school issued iPads in local authority schools have found ways around internet restrictions to access violent content and pornography.
He is also concerned that schools are placing too much emphasis on preparing children for an increasingly digital workplace at the expense of the skills they will need to use technology effectively.
The headmaster questions the assumption children must be immersed in technology from an early age to become digitally literate.
“It's not just about my school,” he said. “I look at education in a wider sense and think it really bothers me that other heads are not seeing what I see.”
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