According to an OfSTED study, money spent on books is a better investment than money spent on computers. The data for OfSTED’s study was gathered from nearly a third of the country’s primary schools and a survey of 540 head teachers. That the study found the impact of books on test scores to be greater than that of technology is something of a blow to a government which is hooked on both test scores and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools.
Along with numeracy and literacy the New Labour government has pushed ICT in primary schools from its very first days in power. Their initial drive to bring computers into the classroom centred on preparing pupils for the employment world of tomorrow, a world in which ICT skills would be essential. From there, ICT’s remit has expanded, with primary schools asked to incorporate it into other areas of learning, particularly maths and English. Over half the head teachers interviewed in OfSTED’s study said that in terms of their school’s budget, expenditure on ICT was a greater priority than expenditure on books. Yet as John Bangs of the National Union of Teachers recently highlighted, there is actually no ‘conclusive evidence of a clear link between achievement and ICT use.’ Is this just another example of an un-piloted New Labour initiative, with no evidence base?
The link between books and achievement, however, does come with a lot of conclusive evidence. This is perhaps unsurprising to you and me, but rather worryingly not to the leader of the study, Malcolm Dixon, who commented that ‘It is surprising that books matter.’ In an educational context where reading is taught from de-contextualised passages and timetabled ‘free-reading’ is a thing of the past, maybe Dixon’s reaction is unsurprising.