Schools Need Technology. But They Also Need More Time

 

Schools Need Technology. But They Also Need More Time

Using technology wisely, can give valuable time back.

I have spent most of my working life in education and, when I think back to when I was at school, it is striking how much has changed. That was more than half a century ago, when there were no computers in our classrooms, no smartboards, learning platforms or artificial intelligence. If we wanted to find something out, we looked in a book. If we wanted to speak to a teacher, we waited for the opportunity. But I wouldn't say schools were better or worse then. They were simply different, because the world they were preparing children for was different.

Today's schools are working with children growing up in a world that is changing at an extraordinary speed. Technology, social media and artificial intelligence are transforming the way we live and work, while schools are also supporting children with increasingly diverse needs and placing greater emphasis on wellbeing, safeguarding, inclusion and individual support. Technology therefore has an important place in education, and I believe we should embrace it wholeheartedly . Used well, it can make information more accessible, support assessment and planning, identify patterns in student performance, reduce duplication and give educators tools that were unimaginable when I was starting out in education.

But there is another part of education where technology can assist, while human judgement and relationships remain essential: the human relationship at the heart of education.

A system may tell us that a student's grades have fallen. It may show that attendance has changed or that work is no longer being submitted. Those are valuable pieces of information, but they are only the beginning of the conversation. Why has the student's performance changed? Is the child struggling with confidence? Is learning becoming difficult? Is something happening socially that we don't know about? Is it something to do with the family ?

A good teacher may notice something that never appears on a dashboard — a child who has become unusually quiet, a student who has stopped making eye contact or someone who is suddenly spending more time alone. Sometimes it is simply a teacher's instinct that says, “Something isn't quite right.”

And that is where time becomes so important.

Across our schools, counsellors, special educators, inclusion specialists and teachers are doing an extraordinary amount of work  to support children who need additional help. I have seen the tremendous care, patience and expertise that goes into supporting students who may be struggling with their studies, finding learning difficult, lacking confidence, feeling anxious or simply needing someone to understand them. Here in the UAE, there is a strong commitment to supporting students with different needs, and much of this work happens quietly and without much recognition.

Yet even the most dedicated professionals face a very practical constraint: there are only so many hours in a school day. Sometimes the person supporting a child knows exactly what they would like to do next — another conversation, another strategy, or simply more time to sit and listen. Sometimes, despite everyone's best intentions, there simply isn't enough time.

Perhaps this is where technology can make one of its most valuable contributions. Not by replacing teachers, counsellors, special educators or inclusion specialists, but by reducing some of the routine work around them. If technology can simplify a process, reduce duplication or save a teacher an hour of routine work, perhaps the greatest benefit is not finding another task to fill that hour. Perhaps it is giving some of that time back — to plan, to think, to talk to a child or simply to notice something that might otherwise be missed.

And perhaps there is one question that should sit above every new initiative, every new system and every new piece of technology we introduce into education:

“Will this benefit the child?”

That, ultimately, should be our test. Not whether something is fashionable or technologically impressive, and not simply whether it makes our lives more efficient, but whether, in some meaningful way, it improves the experience, learning, wellbeing or opportunities of the child.

Education is full of competing demands, and most of them exist for very good reasons. Teachers need information, leaders need to understand what is happening in their schools, parents need communication, students need support and schools need to be accountable. Technology can help with many of these things. But we should always remember what all of this is ultimately about: the child.

Children need good teaching, of course, but they also need time to read, to think, to make mistakes, to ask questions, to develop confidence and, occasionally, simply to be bored. Teachers need time too — to prepare properly, to reflect, to talk to colleagues and, perhaps most importantly, to know the children in front of them.

Because some of the most important moments in a school will never appear on a dashboard. They happen when a teacher notices that something is wrong, when a conversation in a corridor gives a child the confidence to keep going, when a student finally finds the courage to put up a hand, or when a child is told at exactly the right moment, “I believe you can do this.”

Technology can help us enormously. It can make education more efficient, more informed and, if used well, more personalized.

 But perhaps its greatest value should not be measured simply by how much more it enables us to do. Perhaps it should also be measured by how much time it gives back to the people who matter most in education — the teachers and the children.

Because in education, time isn't just a resource. It is an opportunity to make a difference.