the spanish schools they use the digital tools way very punctual theSagrada Familia school goes a step further alreadythis course has strengthened the commitment to textbookswith the obligation to use it in all courses and educational levels. Lately, the families had raised the possibility of using digital booksbut the center has returned to paper and pen as a response to the students’ loss of concentration. However, the center has two mobile classrooms provided by the Governmentwith devices used in very specific cases in some subjects, such as computer science. The aim is to reduce the students’ exposure to screens as much as possible, according to the centre.
“The introduction of technology is done gradually and adapted to the age”
The Sant Ermengol does not work with an iPad per student and technology is used when the teacher deems it appropriateto search for information or work on robotics and programming. The school has about forty iPads and about fifty laptops. Àlex Molina, the center’s communication and pastoral coordinator, explains that the school has delayed children’s access to screens from the age of four to five. “The introduction of technology is done progressively and adapted to age”, he explains. To counter the loss of IT at I4, the management has decided to further expand mobility projects.
The Sagrada Família school in Escaldes.
“The textbook remains the main learning tool”
At the Spanish school María Moliner de la Marginedathe use of technology is shared. The center has three computer rooms and laptop carts, with a hundred devices that are used both by the studentsESO like those in high school. from the beginning ofESOare used as a pedagogical method in a transversal way: as a research tool, to do assignments or in one-off classes, when the tutoring group carries out splits. Computers are the property of the center and students are not allowed to take them home. As he explains Carla Guinotteacher at the center, the book is the vehicular tool. “The textbook continues to be the main learning tool”, he says.
The restriction of mobile phones in the centers generates a quorum of acceptance between the centers. The Holy Family is the one who applies a more severe restriction. Its use is completely prohibited both inside the classrooms, as well as in the corridors and the yard. Nor is it used punctually for any task in any specific subject. Students must keep it in the locker from the moment they enter the center in the morning and cannot collect it until the end of classes. If a teacher detects that they are using it, the teacher confiscates the mobile phone and keeps it in the secretary’s office until a family member collects it. The center points out, however, that fewer and fewer students bring their mobile phones to school. The same thing happens in Sant Ermengol and al Maria Moliner it is the third year that there has been a total ban on mobile phones throughout the school day and that, according to the centre, the measure has been well accepted by families.
The three centers defend, with different formulas, a use of technology linked to educational needs and not as a permanent tool. The Holy Family it boils down to the need to find one balanced use of devices and to maintain co-responsibility between school and family to avoid misuse.
