THE HIDDEN LESSON BEHIND EDTECH

From interactive whiteboards to 'gamified' homework, technology now dominates almost every aspect of pupils' education. But with parents and children's campaigners increasingly worried that gadgets are creating more harm than help, some schools are now opting for a complete switch-off

- Molly Kingsley

'M IN the reception area of Heritage School in Cambridge, waiting to speak to headteacher Jason Fletcher. Above the welcome desk, a photograph shows two children sitting under a tree, reading a book. For most of the country's schoolchildren, the image represents a quaint anachronism a quarter of British children spend each day on phones, tablets or gaming consoles, according to a recent study for the Children's Commissioner, while only one in five reads daily.

But for pupils at Heritage, the photograph reflects a daily reality. The school, as Fletcher proudly explains to me, is unique in using no iPads, laptops or interactive whiteboards during normal teaching time. While there is a firm belief here that technology has a place with dedicated computing lessons from Year 6, a STEM club and “creative robotics” competitions the ethos is squarely grounded in the belief that books, textbooks and handwriting foster better cognitive development and educational attainment than apps and screens.

"What we are arguing for is tech in a box," Fletcher explains. He says the school believes that a "calmer environment where children can actually engage with words patiently, and where normal interaction with teachers is cognitively vastly superior to the deluge of information that the digital makes possible".

And its strong values are borne out by impeccable results: last year, Heritage achieved the second-best GCSE results in Cambridge, a city overrun with high-performing schools. They also set the school apart from most, if not all, other schools in the UK, as well as from the general thrust of national educational policy, through which children are fed a staple diet of tech.

The UK's EdTech (educational technology) sector is the largest in Europe and if Pearson the UK's largest exam board - gets its way, GCSEs and A-Levels could well be fully digital by 2030. Furthermore, reports suggest AI might even soon be marking children's homework.