Schools must be “privileged places” that give students time and space away from being “bombarded with data” and technology, according to the country’s biggest group of independent schools.

At a time when an increasing number of schools are giving students their own tablet computers, Dr Kevin Stannard, director of innovation and learning at the Girls’ Day School Trust, believes that schools should act as a refuge from social-media-dominated modern life.

Speaking in this week’s TES, Dr Stannard said it was important for schools to strike the right balance between preparing their students for the working world and teaching them to engage in a “deeper” understanding of subject content.

In their haste to keep pace with technological change in other sectors, schools must not overlook their primary aim of providing students with the skills to focus and concentrate, he added.

“In a modular, multitasking, rapidly mutating world, where young people are bombarded with data, schools must stand out as privileged places that put value on sustained reflection and considered debate,” he said. 

To read the full article get the 20 February edition of TES on your tablet or phone or by downloading the TES Reader app for Android or iOS. Or pick it up at all good newsagents.

Related stories: 

Schools across Europe to be rated on how technologically advanced they are - 27 September 2013

Technology altering children’s brains is ‘desirable’, says TV academic - 11 January 2014