Time’s up! Now old exam hall clocks are going digital

CHILDREN have to learn to tell the time using an analogue clock by the age of seven – but it appears many quickly forget the skill.

Digital clocks are being displayed in GCSE exam halls because pupils struggle to tell the time on a traditional clock.

Education leaders say digital clocks on smartphones are the main driver behind youngsters losing the skill.

Teachers worry that pupils could miscalculate the time left during exams or waste time trying to work it out.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘We’re aware of some schools replacing analogue clocks with digital clocks in exam rooms.

‘Young people taking exams have been brought up in a digital age and many just don’t neces

‘Pupils struggle to read analogue’

sarily see analogue clocks and watches as much as older generations did when they were growing up. It’s literally a case of changing times.’

Teachers have also described the problem on social media. One tweeted: ‘Lots of students can really struggle in exams as very often there is still an analogue clock at the front and they can’t understand it.’

Another said: ‘So many of our kids don’t know how to read a clock. While they don’t need it, it is a skill that they should know.’

Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust, which runs about 50 schools, told The Times: ‘We use a mix of digital and traditional clocks to overcome this potential problem.’

Jeremy Hobbins, from Birmingham City University, said the course was ‘thriving, albeit niche’ as young people were attracted by the micro-engineering behind mechanical timepieces. He added: ‘Fears the Apple Watch might kill off the mechanical watch industry have proved unfounded and even they have representations of analogue time as an option on their screens.’