Less than one in every five students are using electronic tablets as part of a lesson on a daily basis in schools, fuelling concerns that the costly technological learning aid is not being utilised to the full.
Nonetheless, their introduction has been given the thumbs up by both parents and teachers on grounds that the devices were contributing towards a more innovative learning experience for students.
The conclusions were reached in a comprehensive study carried out by the National Audit Office that looked into the impact that tablets were having on the educational system.
Plans for the introduction of electronic tablets in schools were included in the respective 2013 general election manifestos of the two major political parties.
However, many had questioned if this was more of a political stunt and a vote-catching exercise rather than an educational measure. This feeling was fuelled by the manner in which this proposal was launched, which was akin to a bidding war over which party would give more freebies to students if elected to government.
The One Tablet per Child Scheme, as it is called, was rolled out in the 2016-17 scholastic year.
Since then, an estimated 15,000 tablets have been distributed for free to all Year 4 students in State, Church and independent schools. All this came at a cost of €12 million, 80 per cent of which has been financed through the European Social Fund.
The report seeks to determine if the introduction of such devices was reaching the overarching objective of improving the quality of learning. The exercise was carried out through a questionnaire among teachers and parents as well as interviews with other stakeholders.
Overall, the feedback received was positive, with more than two-thirds (70 per cent) saying that tablets had helped students in their learning journey. Furthermore, the learning aid was providing educators with a more engaging and innovative way of delivering a lesson and a good tool for students’ continuous assessment.
The NAO called on the Education Ministry to investigate and monitor tablet utilisation, identify possible causes and implement corrective measures
However, the NAO pointed out that the results indicated that tablets were not being utilised to the full. Only 18.5 per cent of the parents said that their children were making use of the device on a daily basis at school. The respective figure among teachers was even lower, as only 11.2 per cent of educators said they used tablets with such frequency.
Moreover, almost a third of parents (30.7 per cent) said tablets were only being used for planned activities, with the figure among teachers being 20 per cent.
The study also highlighted the fact that one in every five students was being told not to take the device to school every day.
It is mostly used to teach Mathematics, English, and to a lesser extent Maltese. These responses reflected the quality of the digital content for the respective subjects, as rated by teachers.
Though students are meant to take the device home every day, it transpired that a quarter of teachers do not give homework on the tablet, and that only 13.2 per cent do so frequently.
Tablet usage during educational outings was even lower, with 61.5 per cent of teachers saying the device was never used for such purpose.
In its conclusions, the NAO called on the Education Ministry to investigate and monitor tablet utilisation, identify possible causes and implement corrective measures.
In its reaction, the ministry played down such concern, saying that half of the teachers were using the tablet at least three times a week.
“This is an encouraging statistic which does not indicate underutilisation but rather indicates that the project is on the right track after the first three years of its implementation,” the ministry said. However, efforts would be made to improve utilisation further, particularly through additional training and support for teachers.
Moreover, it pointed out that the quality of teaching was more important that the amount of time that tablets were being used.
Main problems flagged
Tablet-related issues encountered by teachers
Students not charging their tablets at home - 82.9%
Students not bringing their tablets to school - 68.8%
Tablet issues/faults - 62.4%
School network connectivity issues - 56.1%
Most common technical issues encountered
Wi-Fi connectivity - 73.2%
Battery not charging/not holding charge - 70.7%
Slow performance (limited processor/memory) - 43.9%