Glasgow Pupils Receive Tablets

Glasgow City learning strategy to help pupils cope with the world of technology they have been born into.

21:06 22 October 2019

Glasgow City has recently launched its learning strategy that saw the distribution of tablets to pupils. At St Thomas Aquinas secondary school in Jordanhill, tablets have just been introduced into the S2, S3 and S4 year groups. The goal of the scheme is to give all pupils the same access to technology and an equal chance to learn.

 

Deputy headteacher Barry Quinn says: “We have always said to the teachers that the tablet isn’t something new or revolutionary, it is something to enhance learning for the pupils and teaching for our staff. It’s something else to add to the teaching toolbelt.”

 

"The idea is that one can focus on practical and skills-based courses and the other can look at the more traditional classes, both looking at how the tablet can be best used in each. For example I was in a maths class a few days ago and the pupils were using the devices to find questions in past papers on the SQA website. 

 

“They were each able to find the questions that they really needed to revise. 

 

“It’s just one example of how they can help with individualised learning.”

 

Another aspect of individualised learning that also levels the playing field for all pupils comes with the resources that the tablet offers. 

 

Quinn said: “It’s completely inclusive. If a class is sitting together and one pupil is dyslexic, and another doesn’t have English as a first language there are inbuilt resources to help them. So none of the children are singled out as being different or needing extra help.”