More than 150 clinicians have written to ministers warning of a “crisis” in children’s physical and developmental health linked to screen-based learning.
In a letter to education secretary Lucy Powell and health secretary Yvette Cooper, clinicians including GPs, paediatricians and speech and language therapists (SLTs) describe the absence of any child-focused health scrutiny of edtech as “a serious safeguarding concern” for both departments.
The letter says that around £900 million a year is spent on edtech in English schools, and no edtech product is required to show that it is safe for children’s physical health before a school buys it.
The health professionals warn: “No drug, food product or toy is given to millions of children without a single safety check.
“Yet, astonishingly, edtech devices and platforms currently used by millions of pupils in schools and for homework every day of the week face no equivalent child-focused health scrutiny.”
‘Too much time’ on screens in lessons
Almost 1 million children spend nearly every lesson on screens, and many now spend longer on screens in the classroom than they are recommended to spend in a day, according to analysis cited by the clinicians.
In the UK, the proportion of short-sighted children has more than doubled since the 1960s, they say.
The letter also warns that a three-year-old spending three hours a day on screens misses an estimated 194 conversational turns and 1,139 adult words daily.
More than 2 million UK children are now struggling with speech and language, and around a third of children start school not ready to learn, according to the health professionals.
They raise particular concern about children with special educational needs and disabilities, who they say are often “disproportionately steered towards” screen-based learning at the point when they most need close adult supervision.
‘Gambling with children’s safety’
Jane Rowland, from the campaign group SafeScreens, said: “No other product is put in front of millions of children without a single safety check, yet screens now dominate the school day and follow children home in the evening.
“We are gambling with the health and safety of millions of children every single day.”
Ms Rowland called for a “fully independent review” of edtech in schools before “another penny of public money goes into this experiment”.
Becky Foljambe, from Health Professionals for Safer Screens, said that prescriptions for glasses and speech therapy cannot continue for a problem being made worse by schools.
She said: “We worry about school meals and sport, as part of ensuring children are in the best possible health in their learning environment, and yet we are throwing caution to the wind with these screens, which we now know are adversely impacting on children’s development and their learning.
“We now also have the grim knowledge that our most vulnerable children are being pushed on to screens posing as education the fastest, to ease pressures that have very little to do with their health and educational needs.”
A government spokesperson said that technology, when used well, can be a “powerful tool” to assist learners and free up teachers, and that a consultation on AI and edtech safety would take place.
“Evidence gathering is vital to getting this right, and we’re committed to working with teachers, leaders and parents to help them use technology most effectively as the evidence evolves”, they said.
