As a teaching assistant, play coordinator and forest school leader in a primary school, I would argue that screens are already used in the classroom in a “purposeful, mindful” way (Letters, 30 January). Lessons are carefully planned and delivered using a screen as a tool, by a teacher, just like they were delivered using a blackboard before screens were a “thing”.
The use of this technology saves time to teach more efficiently, with the added benefit that video clips, photographs and sounds can be used to enrich children’s education and experiences. Children are encouraged to contribute orally in the majority of lessons, particularly in those schools that are taking part in the Voice 21 oracy programme, which embeds oracy throughout the curriculum.
Hands-on exploration occurs during science, art, IT, history and geography, as well as subjects like maths, where children are taught using a variety of manipulatives.
Then there is the Opal (outdoor play and learning) programme, which is becoming more widespread, giving children access to exciting and varied child-initiated play opportunities to replace those that society and parents have gradually taken away from them. This gives children agency to collaborate, solve problems, manage risk and create, in play that is freely chosen and intrinsically motivated.
Some schools offer forest school, which is play-based learning with minimal resources in a natural, outdoor setting, enabling children to use their imaginations as well as learn practical skills and use tools.
Children are valued as part of the school community and put at the heart of everything that a school does. There are things wrong with the education system, but screens, and the staff who nurture our children, are not among them.
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