FEATURE FOCUS: CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY
with good quality tech, and a further 88% say they’re offered enough chances to use it. A huge 95% said they know how to use all of the technology at their disposal in school. Interestingly, less than two-fifths (37.5%) of student respondents say they enjoy remote learning and teaching platforms, offering teachers an opportunity to look into the tools available to improve engagement with home-based learning. That said, when students were asked what they would most want to change about their school, a further two fifths (42%) said they’d prefer more flexibility in where they learn.
some time, with some school staff already having staged walkouts earlier this year and more planned for the months to come. One reason behind this is the level of demand placed on educators, who are facing heavier workloads due to staff shortages – and that was reflected in our findings, with many saying this affects them on a daily basis.
Figures showed that teachers respect their leadership’s management of it, with 60% of teachers saying leadership has been supportive and effective. That said, many also feel the issue hasn’t been discussed enough.
Against this backdrop though, another story is emerging around the use of technology and its impact on the role of educators. Technology has provided valuable support to many, with 51% of respondents saying they’re constantly striving to innovate with it. In terms of managing relationships with students, technology has benefits when it comes to improving student engagement (71%) and student behaviour (63%), as well as supporting experiential and immersive learning (67%). A further 68% said it’s also a good tool for helping students connect with and understand the world.
However, others expressed that they’ve lost some confidence in its use, due to time constraints and ongoing heightened demand. In fact, just 22% of people said their confidence in using technology in the classroom has increased this year, compared to 56% who said it had dropped.
Despite this, respondents also had a shared view that since the lockdown, children are more used to and open to learning with the aid of technology, with 69% saying it’s a good tool for community-based learning; today, it’s seen less of a novelty and more of an everyday tool.
The future of education
Consistent feedback from the research was that the use of technology in schools will continue to increase, and just as edtech is set to grow, so too is both educators’ and students’ digital fluency. Overall, around half (45%) of respondents perceive equal, sufficient access to technology as the most pressing issue they face today. Educators believe front-of-class displays will lead the way in terms of the tools used to teach (43%) over the next three years. Meanwhile, more novel edtech innovations, like AI, are welcomed by the majority, with just 2% saying
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they were unsure how it would be used to benefit schools.
Focusing on AI specifically, teachers said the features that will prove most useful to them as educators are its support with automating administrative tasks (25%) and using voice assistants, such as Merlyn Mind (14%). Others said they’ll benefit from adaptive personalisation (10%), data processing (9%), and voice controls and commands (8%).
Student insights
As well as educators, we spoke directly with students up to the age of 16 to find out more about their learning experiences when it comes to technology.
We found that students have an
overwhelmingly positive school experience, and are resoundingly confident in the technology and its benefits, with 88% saying they like to use it in lessons. Reasons why range from it helping them connect with peers (83%) and making topics more interesting (83%), to helping them to focus (83%) and, most of all, helping them to better understand different subjects (92%). Of the technologies available to students, tablets (59%) outweigh smartphones (30%) in terms of preference. Robotics and coding (25%), and virtual and augmented reality (17%) are growing in popularity, but the results show many young people are yet to feel entirely confident in their use.
In terms of provision, 91% say there’s enough technology to go around, 88% say they’re armed
Students also gave a favourable view of their teachers, with 83% saying they feel their teacher cares about them, 79% saying their lessons are interesting and enjoyable, and 75% saying their teachers make them want to learn. As many agree that teachers make them happy as those who say teachers care about the results they get - which, at 92%, shows that students recognised results are a top priority for teachers. Overall, students are happy with how technology is managed as part of their education. When asked what could be improved about their school, only one in five (21%) said they feel more technology is needed in class and only a quarter (25%) said technology needed to be of a higher quality.
Though the findings of this year’s report provide much food for thought, three findings, in particular, should be taken forward into the next 12 months. Primarily, opinions differ on whether home learning is useful, but it is clear that students want improved flexibility in where they can learn. This gives administrators and educators interesting insight to consider as they plan for the 2023-2024 school year. Secondly, students and teachers share the view that more emphasis is put on achievement than the learning experience; in a world where children’s social-emotional learning is of high importance, perhaps more could be done to change this perspective and ensure that, at the centre of education, are pupils who are encouraged to enjoy themselves. Finally, it couldn’t be clearer that administrators, teachers, and students see a huge benefit in using technology. While there is room for improvement, it’s clear that technology continues to add value to the learning experience and support student achievement.
To learn more about the Promethean State of Technology in Education Report, please visit
prometheanworld.com/gb/stateoftech
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