Ipads are blamed for less inquisitive pupils

CHILDREN are less inquisitive and ask fewer questions because their minds have been dulled by ipads before they even enter primary school, according to the head of Britain’s biggest head teachers’ association.

Andrew Mellor, the president of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said that children were coming into school as passive rather than active learners because parents were using ipads as “soothers” to keep them quiet.

He said it prevented them developing their imagination and an inquisitive mind which came from reading picture books with their parents.

“We have children starting school at the age of four who are used to having technology put in front of them almost as a soother if they have a tantrum,” he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. “They have not been stimulated in early reading and maths but essentially had an ipad in front of them rather than looking through books and developing vocabulary.

“When you ask children to be active learners, it’s not natural for some children who haven’t had that experience. They are used to one-to-one attention which is essentially what an ipad does. Stimulating a child on a one-to-one basis is not what schools can do in a class of 30.”

He said it took a year to wean children off the technology which is increasingly used by under-fives. Ofcom data shows that more than a fifth of three- and four-year-olds own ipads and more than half spend nearly eight hours a week online.

Mr Mellor also blamed social media for an increase in violence among both pupils and parents, who were coming to blows in the playground or at the school gates after abusing each other online.

He said social media encouraged more vitriolic abuse than is used when people are face-to-face.

“It takes away from the standards agenda in a school like mine where every lesson is critical. We can’t afford to be spending time dealing with stuff that originates outside school,” said Mr Mellor, head of St Nicholas Church of England primary school in Blackpool.

He was backed by Peter Radcliffe, assistant head teacher at Longdean School, a secondary in Hemel Hempstead, who said social media was so deeply embedded in the teenage psyche that it had turned many young people’s lives into “a constant abusive cycle, insulting and baiting others”.

“In the worst cases, parents and even grandparents also engage in this cycle, which often results in feuds that escalate between families. Even though this typically starts during evenings or at weekends, there seems to be an expectation that schools should deal with the fallout.”

Mr Mellor said he was also concerned at the unfettered access that even primary schoolchildren had to pornography on their smartphones.

He said the Government needs to take action to force the tech giants to be more socially responsible and help parents manage their children’s use of social media better.