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Education: Science and Technology

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Greenfield for introducing this fascinating subject. Her commitment to this field is great. Her knowledge is profound and her vision is extraordinary. I was interested in the speech made by the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, who had a distinguished career as Minister for Education in the other House, and in her mention of the power of the brain. The noble Baroness may be interested to read the acclaimed book of my noble friend, The Private Life of the Brain, which is an inspiring and thought-provoking read. Many of your Lordships may identify with a situation that unfolded in my household this past weekend. I bought a new piece of equipment to record some television programmes—mostly sport. While I was trying to understand the instruction booklet, my nine year-old son worked it out in a jiffy, without even reading the booklet. The harsh reality, I fear, is that most young people are able to understand and adapt to new technology more easily and effectively than those of us who are not so young. I say that as one of the younger Members of your Lordships’ House, comparatively speaking. Our responsibility is to catch up and to ensure that developing education policy in this country properly reflects fast moving advances in science and technology. As an old dog needing to learn some new tricks, it is not easy. But the plain fact is that what was good for us is certainly not going to be good for the current young generation. The most recent research from the Office of Science and Technology indicated that while 86 per cent of the population believe that science makes a good contribution to society and that technology improves their lives, only 17 per cent of that study believed that consultation on science and technology issues with government had an impact on policy. The conclusion of the study was quite clear that many would like more of a say on certain issues pertaining to science and technology but feel that the Government are unlikely to listen to them. Technology is changing the way that teachers teach and students learn, and education strategy and priorities must reflect this reality. The blackboard has been replaced by the whiteboard; and where once research was sourced from a library, now it is found ““Googling”” on the internet. Change is broad and ongoing. It is important that we recognise what technology can do. But equally—I believe the point was made very strongly by my noble friend Lady Greenfield—it is important for us to recognise what technology cannot do. Of course, technological advances enhance both access to information and the process of learning. However, technology cannot teach on its own. In some quarters, technology is regarded as the panacea for budget cuts. I read with concern proposals in America where hundreds of students would sit in front of monitors being subjected to prerecorded electronic talking heads providing cheap, mass education. Such visions are nightmarish. Our challenge is to ensure that technology enhances the educational process and diminishes nothing. There is perhaps a parallel to be drawn with cricket. Many of your Lordships will be aware that in major cricket matches these days a third umpire is often called upon to study a video television replay of a possible run-out and convey an informed decision on whether a batsman made his ground to the umpire standing on the field. In this instance, technology ensures the accuracy of the decision-making process and assists the umpire. However, the cricket authorities forbid the use of the third umpire and video technology in LBW—leg before wicket—decisions because, in this instance, they believe that an umpire on the field remains in a uniquely qualified position to make the decision. In the classroom, as on the cricket field, technology should enhance the process rather than replace it. That has been the case in a pilot scheme called Learning To Go recently conducted in Wolverhampton. Under the scheme 130 ten and eleven year-old pupils across 18 schools in the city were each provided with a handheld PDA device, costing £300 per unit. These units incorporated built-in still and video cameras, a sound recorder and a wireless broadband connection, and were able to operate most software applications. The children used their devices to read e-books on screen, animate science principles, such as plant growth or water evaporation, and play maths games. They even played games on the PDAs. The issue of whether playing computer games makes a worthwhile contribution to the educational process has been a bone of contention in my house for some time. I have four children under the age of 10 and while all four of my children have enthusiastically voted ““Yes””, my wife and I have been somewhat less convinced by computer games. Obviously, some software programmes are more constructive than others and there is no doubt that such computer games can become addictive and make children seem even more uncommunicative than usual. However, I have come round to the view that they enhance education. That view is supported by the Department for Education and Skills’ report on the educational use of games, which challenges the stereotype view of computer games being a distraction. The challenge is to harness rather than fight the medium. Information and communication technology is dramatically enhancing education in the United Kingdom, but its potential effect on education in the developing world—I have a particularly interest in Africa—is vast. ICT can help developing countries tackle a wide range of health, social and economic problems. By improving access to information and by enabling communication, ICT can play a major role in reaching the millennium development goals such as the elimination of poverty, combating serious disease and achieving universal primary education and gender equality. Unfortunately, in most developing countries, instruction in science and technology is either non-existent or very basic and such factors should perhaps be born in mind when the Government contemplate how they spends funds to support educational projects in the developing world. We are not living in the midst of a communications evolution. This is a revolution. Today’s latest mobile telephone is considered almost obsolete within a couple of months, and it is becoming clear that we are moving into a world where the PDA will stand right at the centre of daily life, being education. The accelerating convergence of information technology, nano-technology, biotechnology and cognitive science will have a huge impact on our lives. It will raise many moral and other issues. This is an issue that exercises the minds of professionals in the field and politicians, but it also has a huge impact on a broad cross section of the public.  I believe that we would do well to note the results of the research to which I alluded earlier, specifically that in determining policy in this area we should ensure that full and effective public consultation takes place.