Last July, the Cardiff council announced that in an effort to bring teaching up to date every pupil in schools in Cardiff was to be given a tablet for use in the classroom, across the curriculum. The Greater Cardiff area has a population double that of Malta.
This is a proposal that can radicalise the educational system, bridge the digital divide and provide our children a better future- Fr Joe Borg
David Harris, the head teacher of Tredegarville Church Primary School told the BBC that schools had the challenge to “continue to develop more imaginative and innovative ways of delivering the statutory curriculum, while maintaining and building upon standards of achievement.” As his school had already been using tablets he could speak from experience when he noted that he had seen an improvement in students’ literacy and numeracy skills.
I do not know whether the reaction of the people of Cardiff was similar to the reaction of several on the social networks in Malta when our political parties proposed the giving of tablets to school children.
We are presented with two (or is it three?) different proposals. The Labour Party promised to give tablets to students in Year 4 though its billboards are promising tablets from Year 4. The Nationalist Party is promising tablets to primary and secondary students.
Did the people of Cardiff show their fine sense of humour by ‘intelligently’ comparing the electronic tablets to those given to Moses on Mount Sinai or to those products we buy in pharmacies to consume orally whenever some malady affects us? Or was the debate in Cardiff a smidgeon more intelligent than that in Malta?
Perhaps the people of Cardiff knew that the proposal to give tablets to schoolchildren is not rocket science as it is not a first in the history of the role of technology in education.
I doubt whether the Maltese debate is fully enlightened by what is happening overseas in this area. Two months ago I wrote about Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child, an experimental use of tablets with poor, unschooled children in Ethiopia.
Are those who hastened to write about this subject aware that, for example, many US schools are using tablets?
The same is true about schools in several emerging economies in Asia and eastern Europe. Among the school systems using tablets (albeit in different levels of commitment) one can mention South Korea, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, France, the UK, Scandinavia, Japan, Singapore and Australia.
One reaction to the proposal was unconsciously imbued in the spirit of the Mintoffian economics and its concomitant technophobia. Tablets are too expensive to give to Maltese children! Thanks to this mentality we were privileged to use the Stowger telephone technology but were for a long stretch of time deprived of colour television sets unless one scraped before the strong and the mighty, cap in hand, imploring for a set.
Computers were looked at with suspicion as they were considered to be a threat to employment; satellite dishes were illegal and wireless telephones considered subversive technology! Different age, but a similar mentality was expressed.
Undoubtedly, tablets cost money and their usage is accompanied by an element of maintenance costs. Some quoted the Daily Mail’s alarmist reports about breakages in the Honywood Community Science School, Coggeshall, England, conveniently forgetting that the head of school said the problem was greatly alleviated when tablets with more robust cases were introduced. More important, I believe, is the headmaster’s statement that the use of tablets helped improve pupil discipline and exam results.
The Malta Union of Teachers expressed its disappointment that none of political parties consulted it before publishing their respective proposals. What is much more disappointing is that it was not the MUT that came up with this innovative idea that can revolutionise education. This should be of no surprise as the MUT follows the ethos of a trade union, not that of a professional body.
Like some other trade unions, the MUT is more attentive to ways of getting its members to work less and get paid more than to improving Malta’s educational system. It is unfortunate that the MUT seems to follow the lead of an assertive minority of its members instead of behaving like a professional body in respect for the majority of teachers who are dedicated to their profession.
It is true that the use of tablets in schools is not a panacea, but the results of experiments done so far in many countries are proving to be positive.
A positive evaluation of the use of tablets in the Sydney area was published last year. It noted that tablets enhance engagement and motivation, improve face-to-face and online collaboration among students, personalise learning and improve learning outcomes.
In an article for The Guardian, Miles Berry, a senior lecturer in the use of technology in education at the University of Roehampton, confirmed that tablet technology in schools presented the opportunity to tap into the informal as well as formal learning methods.
In December 2012, Barbie Clarke and Siv Svanaes published the result of their qualitative research in schools using tablets and others not using them. Their findings show, among other things, an increase in pupil-led learning, pupil-teacher communication and collaboration between students. Besides, pupils expressed greater motivation and interest in their schoolwork.
Most schools surveyed during a 2005 study by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency noted that tablets are an excellent tool for motivation and that pupils who previously have found curriculum areas difficult have attempted and reattempted tasks with energy
Others noted the advantage of having a single, searchable store for all documents without the need to carry large paper files, books and school bagpacks.
Let me emphasise once more that tablets are not a panacea. This radical innovation should not be introduced in a piecemeal manner. As the Prime Minister noted, there is need for a holistic approach. Tablets should be linked to the interactive whiteboards and agreements with book publishers to install electronic version of books on tablets should be made.
Teachers have to be trained and parents should be involved in every step of the process. If tablets are to be gradually introduced in October 2014 the process has to start a tamburo battente immediately after the election.
Challenges there will be a plenty. There is no gain without pain. However, this is a proposal that, if managed well, can radicalise the educational system, bridge the digital divide and provide our children, particularly those coming from a disadvantaged background, a better future.
It would be a shame if it will not be allowed to come to fruition.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt