Hi-tech kids know every trick in the book, but miss out on the real thing

A new generation of hi-tech infants is starting school more familiar with smartphones and tablet computers than with books, say school managers.

While the importance of technology in schools is being pressed to ensure children go to college and graduate with the skills for employment, caution has been advised not to forget the basics of children’s early learning skills.

“Children at junior level need to handle books. We now have children coming into junior infants who think that when they get a book, if they put their fingers on a page with a picture, it will just enlarge,” said Eileen Flynn, general secretary of the Catholic Primary School Management Association.

The video linked from this story shows a baby presuming a magazine reacts to touch like an iPad. While the image Ms Flynn presented sparked laughter at the Oireachtas education committee this week, she said there were also serious education issues involved. “There’s no problem with the idea of having e-books and everything in school being technology-friendly. But we forget sometimes that children need to start with three-dimensional things, whether it’s getting the feel of a pencil or a picture or a book, and move on to two-dimensional things like computer or tablet screens after.

“If you’re telling them about money, you can tell them about coins and shopping, but unless they handle money, you lose a bit of the message and it’s like being out of touch with reality.”

She said what happens at home at a very young age was vital, but if parents have lost jobs or cannot afford books, it can affect children’s experiences.

“If resources and access to books in schools are also cut, that will also have an effect. There are 3D books with pop-up images of castles and things like that, which you can’t quite get with a smartphone.”

A report from the Oireachtas jobs, enterprise, and innovation committee this week said teachers’ technology skills must be improved to help fill gaps in the jobs market. Its author, Senator Deirdre Clune, said that with only one in four second-level teachers having more than basic IT skills, it would be impossible to further the development of computing in schools unless they could show students how to engage with technology’s creative uses.