More than 70% of teachers still think students are better at using tech

More than 70% of teachers still believe students are more adept at using technology than they are, according to research by Censuswide.

The research, which was commissioned by technology company Steljes, found 74.5% of teachers think their students are more technology savvy than they are, despite the increasing use of technology in schools.

 “Overall, these are very positive results for the industry, showing what a difference interactive technology can make to the learning experiences of today’s tech-savvy schoolchildren,” said Martin Large, CEO of Steljes.

“It is very encouraging to see that nearly all teachers across the UK have embraced interactive technology in recent years, and how it has become an integral part of their teaching techniques,” he said.

When the new computing curriculum was introduced in September 2014, many teachers were concerned over the lack of training they received to allow them to deliver the curriculum, and a third of schools admitted to providing no training at all on how to teach computing.

Almost half of kids think their teachers need more training when it comes to the new subjects.

But although three-quarters of teachers think they aren’t as good at using tech as their pupils, more than half of teachers agreed that interactive technology in the classroom helps offer a better learning experience.

Just more than 57% of teachers said this better learning experience comes from the increased engagement with students that interactive technology in the classroom fuels.

Of the interactive technology available, 81.5% of teachers claimed to use interactive whiteboards in the classroom, while 63.9% use laptops and just under half use tablets.

Teachers are increasingly using technology during lessons, with 64% of teachers saying they use interactive technology at least four times a week.

But unfortunately many teachers claim this technology is not as up-to-date as it could be, with only 31% of teachers claiming their technology suite was regularly updated.

Their ability to use this technology is also hindered by lack of knowledge, and almost half said any training they had been offered on how to use classroom technology was not good enough.

Former software engineer Sylvia Goldsmith retrained as a teacher recently to combat the issues of teachers having little technology knowledge and the difficulties women can have re-entering the technology sector after a career break.