The regional government puts a limit on digital books in schools

After the ban on the use of mobile phones in schools and institutes in the Region last January, the regional government will now delay, starting next year, the application of 100% digital plans in schools to limit the use of tablets at an early age. especially in the subjects of Mathematics, reading and writing, up to 10-11 years old. Currently, dozens of schools follow digital programs from third grade, and the Community now wants their implementation to be delayed until fifth grade.

The president of the Community, Fernando López Miras, announced at the Regional Assembly that from next year “digital media will not be used on a mandatory basis for schoolchildren to learn to read, write and calculate at an early age, up to fifth grade; The evidence shows that it is better done without screens. “They will not be used in reading, writing and Mathematics until fifth grade,” said the president of the Community, who assures that it is “a pioneering measure in Spain.”

The group of experts that has studied the use of electronic and digital devices in educational centers at the request of the Ministry of Education itself highlighted among its first recommendations in February that electronic devices for individual use should not be used in educational centers before the fifth year of Education. Primary, that is, between 10 and 11 years old; and if they are used it must be pedagogically justified in the educational project.

This proposal clashes with the dynamics currently followed in the dozens of centers in the Region that develop the ‘One to One’ system from third grade. This method implies that each child has a personal and individual ‘chromebook’ (‘one kid, one computer’) to work in class – sometimes also at home – daily from the third year onwards, that is, around the age of eight, for all subjects, including Language and Mathematics.

Public centers that are affiliated with the Senda digital program (Digital Classroom Teaching System) also use individual devices from third grade.

The growing wave of parents driven by the goal of keeping their children away from the screens for as long as possible has been growing this year in the Region. The group of families that connected out of concern for their children’s full digital immersion at school ended up giving substance to the ‘screen-free’ movement, which has expanded without limits via WhatsApp since September. The trickle of news and studies that warn of the supposed risks of the early use of digital technology was giving breath to the Murcian families that are integrated into the movement, which were also loaded with arguments after the publication of the first conclusions of the group of experts. created by the Ministry of Education to analyze the use of electronic and digital devices in educational centers.

The dozens of families that have been joining the ‘screen-free’ movement, with ramifications throughout Spain, fear that the intensive use of devices at school will have effects on mental health and learning, and consider that the imposition of a model digital can collide with the private sphere of your children’s education.

On January 8, the Region prohibited the use of mobile phones and electronic devices by students in Primary, Secondary and Vocational Training centers, “unless the teachers demand it to carry out an educational activity.” This measure, which was already implemented in many educational centers in the Region, provided regulatory support and reinforced the authority figure of the teacher. The ban on the use of mobile phones even during recess in institutes and schools in the Region at all stages, from Infant to Baccalaureate and Vocational Training, has been implemented in the majority of centers with hardly any conflicts, and has reduced tensions in the classrooms. , according to the directors of the institutes.

The ‘committee of wise men’, made up of more than 40 professionals and members of the educational community (technicians from the Ministry, computer experts, directors of educational centers, from the educational inspection, members of the Observatory of School Coexistence, staff of the Council School of the Region of Murcia, State Security Forces and Corps, federations of parents’ associations, digital technology companies specializing in the educational field such as Microsoft, Google, Vodafone, Planeta, recognized teachers in the field of educational innovation and teachers from the University of Murcia) proposed that electronic devices be used to enrich the teaching and learning process, promoting the use of innovative methodologies and the creative use of devices, also valuing not making exclusive use of devices for the acquisition of skills related to literacy and basic mathematical operations in the Infant and Primary stages.

They also recommended that all digital content used in class be available online, so that students and families can have access, in addition to the creation of a ‘Digital School for Families’ with information on the safe, healthy and responsible use of digital technologies and electronic devices to prevent and reduce risks caused by misinformation regarding the use of technologies and devices. These conclusions were included in the document among the measures that the Minister of Education promised to apply for the next school years.