Hi-tech whiteboards chalked off as bad idea
Replacing school blackboards with interactive whiteboards was a waste of money and did not help learning, the Education Secretary has said. Damian Hinds is today urging head teachers to embrace modern technology as a classroom aid. But he acknowledged that ministers’ attempts to harness digital innovation have in the past been ill-conceived.
REPLACING blackboards with interactive whiteboards was a waste of money and did not help pupils’ learning, the Education Secretary has said.
Damian Hinds is today urging head teachers to embrace modern technology as a classroom aid.
But he acknowledged that ministers’ attempts to harness digital innovation have in the past been ill-conceived.
Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, he said: “I recognise that in the past, governments have been guilty of imposing unwanted technology on schools. Over a decade ago expensive interactive whiteboards were rolled out to schools, without the support of teachers, and we saw no subsequent rise in pupils’ attainment directly linked to that technology.”
In 2004, Charles Clarke, the then Labour education secretary, launched a modernisation drive which included axing blackboards and chalk for whiteboards and felt-tip pens.
As part of a £15 billion drive, it was announced that all primary schools would receive the new interactive whiteboards and they would be automatically installed in every classroom when new schools were built.
At the time, the National Union of Teachers hailed the demise of blackboards, with a spokesman saying: “Interactive whiteboards are extremely beneficial. Getting rid of blackboards would also put a stop to that awful screeching noise made by chalk.”
Two years later, a Cambridge University study into interactive whiteboards found that they had “been introduced in British classrooms at a rate unprecedented anywhere else in the world”. However, the research paper concluded that while they enable innovative teaching styles, their use “cannot be claimed to ‘transform teaching’ in terms of the classroom dialogue and underlying pedagogy”.
Mr Hinds writes today that schools must decide which products suit them best, as he warned teachers not to get duped by novelty items which offer little value to learning.
“With around a thousand tech companies selling to schools, it’s by no means easy to separate the genuinely useful products from the fads and the gimmicks,” he said.
He told how he has seen state-of-theart technology allowing pupils to explore Amazonian rainforests, steer ships and programme robots in some schools. But Mr Hinds said it is “disappointing” that many in the education sector are failing to embrace these kinds of digital advances.
He said if used appropriately, technology has a huge potential to support students’ learning, save money and reduce the workload of teachers.
“Technology will never be able to replace the motivated, inspirational effect of a great teacher, but it can support great teaching and save teachers’ time so they can focus on what matters,” Mr Hinds said.
The Education Secretary said he intends to host a summit to discuss what kind of products are actually needed in schools.
Officials at the Department for Education said they are particularly interested in technology that can be used to help children with particular educational needs, to speed up the process of marking tests and to ease the administrative burden on teachers.