Do computers make pupils switch off?

The government is encouraging schools' computer use

By Frances Cairncross Analysis presenter

Only five years ago, computers seemed to be a magic answer to all the woes of Britain's schools.

Keyboards and screens arrived by the crate load. Prodded by the government, BT connected schools to the worldwide web. There was similar excitement in other countries.

But for what? Right from the start, the educational role of the computer has been unclear.

Is it simply a machine on which children can write essays and send messages?

Is it a useful but peripheral accessory, like the video: one more tool for teachers? Or has it far more potential, offering completely new teaching methods?

Do computers help or hinder learning?

The early enthusiasm for classroom computers was not the first burst of techno-hype. Thomas Edison, father of the gramophone, advocated (and financed) the use of educational films in schools.

The coming of television was also seen as a breakthrough, although few teachers now think television had brought many educational gains.

Certainly the wiring of schools has cost large sums of public money - spending on computers quadrupled in primary schools and doubled in secondary schools in the past five years.

But, David Reynolds of Becta, the government's information technology agency, says more needs to be done.

"We've dropped the material on to schools, we haven't provided adequate training for teachers in how to use it," he said.

A study by Josh Angrist, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of children in Israel even found that some children who used computers in class did worse in tests than a group of similar children taught without computers.

Disappointing though this is, some think that there are children who gain much from computer-based teaching.

Instant feedback

Yasmin Valli of Leeds Metropolitan University finds that youngsters for whom English is a second language benefit particularly, as do boys who have been excluded from mainstream schools for disruptive behaviour.

And Mike Moore, head of computing at the Community School in Salford and president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, points out that doing maths on computer gives children instant feedback.

"They see the outcome immediately, rather than waiting a week to get their work marked and returned," he said.

Schools have invested heavily

One worry with the growth of classroom computers is that they will mop up money that might otherwise be spent on books.

Roger Watson, an educational publisher who sells both books and software, argues that money might be better spent on books.

"If you've got £200m additional to spend, then spending it on books would probably give you a better return in the short run," he said.

Ultimately, the question may be to strike a balance.

Sherry Turkle, director of the programme on technology and self at MIT, points out that the uses of computers, to gear teaching to an individual's level for instance, are much less effective without a good teacher who mentors and encourages the pupil.

She said: "That's why fantasies about computers as cost-cutting mechanisms were always misguided and set people up with all kinds of expectations that aren't true."

There is no substitute for good teaching.

And teachers who cannot make confident and imaginative use of information technology are much wiser to leave the classroom computer switched off.

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Analysis: Mr Chips or Microchips? was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 26 December 2002 at 2030 GMT.

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