Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Analogue Clocks Removed in UK Schools


Schools are removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time, a head teachers’ union has said.
Teachers are now installing digital devices after pupils sitting their GCSE and A-level exams complained that they were struggling to read the correct time on an analogue clock.
Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said youngsters have become accustomed to using digital devices.

“The current generation aren’t as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations,” he told The Telegraph.
“They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they’ve got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere.”
Mr Trobe, a former headmaster, said that teachers want their students to feel as relaxed as possible during exams. Having a traditional clock in the room could be a cause of unnecessary stress, he added.
He said that schools are trying to make everything as “as easy and straightforward as possible” for pupils during their exams.
“You don’t want them to put their hand up to ask how much time is left,” he said.
“Schools will inevitably be doing their best to make young children feel as relaxed as the can be. There is actually a big advantage in using digital clocks in exam rooms because it is much less easy to mistake a time on a digital clock when you are working against time.”

A number of teachers shared their experiences about the issue on social media, following a presentation on the topic at the Partners in Excellence conference in London.
Stephanie Keenan, head of English at Ruislip High School in north-west London, said that her school has installed digital clocks in the exam hall after agreeing that many year nine, ten and eleven students cannot tell the time with an analogue clock.
Cheryl Quine, a head of department at Cockermouth School and chair of the West Cumbria Network, added that her school discovered that children are having problems telling the time “when some couldn’t read the exam room clock".

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/04/24/schools-removing-analogue-clocks-exam-halls-teenagers-unable/
 
 
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw this with my own eyes 20 years ago. My friend's 12 yr old daughter could not read my kitchen clock. She just read digital time & we were shocked. If the US was ever hit with an EMP bomb & power went out, we are finished. Now I'm wondering if anyone under 30 can figure out how to give change on their own without a calculator.

Anonymous said...

Saw this coming years ago .