UK Schools are removing analogue clocks from exam halls as teenagers 'cannot tell the time'

Schools are removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time, a head teachers’ union has said.

Teachers are now installing digital devices after pupils sitting their GCSE and A-level exams complained that they were struggling to read the correct time on an analogue clock.

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said youngsters have become accustomed to using digital devices.

“The current generation aren’t as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations,” he told The Telegraph.

“They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they’ve got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere.”

Mr Trobe, a former headmaster, said that teachers want their students to feel as relaxed as possible during exams. Having a traditional clock in the room could be a cause of unnecessary stress, he added.

He said that schools are trying to make everything as “as easy and straightforward as possible” for pupils during their exams.

Source.

Humanity is doomed.

lol this is so sad. :P

What next? Google, Alexa, Siri is allowed because students get nervous that they cant post to social media?

"Sorry but I need to have my smartphone with me during this exam, I can't tell the time on those old fashioned clocks with the big and the little hands."

Jesus Christ UK, get your shit together. My 8 year old son can read a analogue clock ffs

Don't pretty much all kids now have watches?

I wouldn't expect them to pass those exams.

I learned how to read an analog clock at 4 years old.

I wouldn't trust those kids with using their smartphones during a test.

Uhh... Yeah. I know right?

I mean what kind of person needs to stop and carefully stare at it for about 5 minutes to figure out the time.

Ah, sweet daily self-affirmation. I was right all along...

From my experiences interacting with people from the UK I can't say that I'm surprised.

I am surprised that there are some students who can't read time through analog clocks. I mean, it's not really that hard to tell the time with the use of that clock.

I wonder if they need to count every stripe and then don't have enough time to do the exam. Poor kids, let's remove the stress of traditional clocks...let's also remove the exams since they cause more stress than the clocks and then everyone is a winner!

I think they'd better serve their students by teaching them how to tell time. It's not that hard. This next generation is a shambles.

I am actually ok with this.

I dont know how to use an abacus and my grandmother had a problem with that, so its fair.

How freaking old was your grandmother? Anyway analog clocks are still available and used so it should be taught.

she was ancient, so I am

but I disagree with your assessment, i think we should look to the needs of the future, not the needs of the past

In my opinion the needs of the future shouldn't be to make people less educated. Looks like we're regressing.

so why are we no longer teaching abacus skills?

I got taught how to use an abacus in grade 1 for addition and subtraction. In high school we got taught to use a unit circle for trig but we had calculators, we got taught how to use a compass. You don't always have tech to help.

Why do they need to tell time during an exam anyway? "What time is it?" "It's time for your exam, that's what time it is - now sssssshhhhhh" :-)

so you think teaching the abacus should be required teaching today?

Yes it helps learn addition and subtraction very easily.

The reason the abacus went away was because we learned how to do the same problems without it. That's not the same as totally taking away the skill.

I don't get this response. I think they should be taught to tell time from analog clocks, but technology is always marching forward and old methods of doing things get left behind. I wonder if people thought humanity was doomed when we stopped using sundials or when town markets became a thing and people no longer had to farm their own food.

ok so that we are clear

You think learning abacus skills should be required in school

I do not. I think learning skills specific to the future is a better use of that time.

ok..that is covering more ground on understanding each other than the last conversation! :)

You don't find knowledge important. Okay. At least you're honest. but relying on tech isn't going to make a very intelligent community.

I think that there are only so many hours in a day and I think we have to be selective in what we REQUIRE students to learn.

if they WANT to learn it then fine, they can do that, in fact they can have a major in it.

but required? no I think other things should be required instead.

like for %^&* starters! critical god damn thinking skills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here in the US it doesn't take very long to teach it. And I don't think learning skills is a waste of time.

part of critical thinking skills, which I think is far more important to learn, is being able to read what I said and assertain that I am not suggesting learning skills is a waste of time.

critical thinking skills would understand that making it REQUIRED brings into question why not make X required, Y required, Z required? maybe we should make how to use millstone required? how about a horse plow? why not make learning how to make gasoline a requirement?

being against it being REQUIRED is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR from being against learning skills and critical thinking skills would know that.

so I think teaching critical thinking skills is more important

If you are a fan of critical thinking then you reread your first sentence.

why not make learning how to make rocket fuel be a REQUIRED skill to learn?

why do you think given my statements I am against learning skills? what in the world ever gave you that idea?

you know what we need to 'require' students to learn more than how to use an abacus?

how to write an Excel Macro. FAR more useful, after critical thinking skills of course

LOL this has to be a joke

If a teenager cannot tell time on an analogue clock it´s not the school's job to care at all, the parents failed and it´s just to bad.

Can´t tell time on the clock there is, learn it or deal with the consequences.

little bit different of a situation.

An abacus is an outdated instrument. It is also slower than a calculator, and not as capable.

An analog clock is not outdated, nor is it harder to read than a digital clock. They are both equally good at their job, equally easy to read, and so forth.

This is just people being stupid, not wanting to try. Frankly, I blame the parents. I think if you can't tell time on an analog clock by some age, you should be forbidden from driving, owning a cell phone, advancing to a certain grade of education, and so forth. I mean these people should be quarantined, sterilized, and kept in ghettos. WE MUST COME UP WITH A FINAL SOLUTION for those that can't tell time!

If abacuses (?) were still found everywhere I'm pretty sure most people would take the 2 minutes necessary to learn how to use them, instead of asking for them to be removed because there are other things that can be used. Same thing with analog clocks.

Not to mention that not everything old needs to be replaced just because something new came along...we don't (thankfully) all wear velcro shoes because your parents decided that the few minutes it takes to learn to tie your shoes are better used learning how to use an ipad...

First, cursive is not being taught anymore. Now, analogue clock reading isn't being taught... Man, these kids are going to shit bricks when their computers, phones and tablets stop working.

Not surprised really. I rarely see people using a normal wrist watch anymore. If I see someone with one, it is a activity tracker or smart watch, which both tends to show the time as numbers only. Kids today are simply not used to it.

@JustPlainLucas: Wow, no cursive either? *goes to google* Damn, I see even schools in Norway has stopped with cursive writing. It looks like I got a job to do with my kids when that day comes.

We're shocked by this, but have you seen how far people's handwriting has gone downhill the past years? I know plenty of people who can barely read their own handwriting today, because they are not used to writing anything by hand anymore. What I'm saying is, I expect that within 10 years we'll see developed countries where people stop knowing how to write by hand, to the point that those people never write by hand anymore.

Oh wait what am I saying. Japan is already there. They write everything digitally because the software auto-corrects/completes their writing which makes it so much easier. The youth of Japan today barely knows how to write a complex sentence. It's the future. It's almost here. Some parts of the world are already there. We're going to be more dependent on technology. As much as this story irks me, it makes sense. It doesn't make sense to waste time on reading analogue clocks when the everyday clocks have become digital. It doesn't make sense to teach how to write by hand when everyone is carrying a keyboard in their pocket. We're getting to that point.

I bet that when we transitioned from horses to bikes and cars, the first generations were spooked that people were no longer able to ride a horse. Then what if you are in the middle of nowhere and you find a horse?! You wouldn't even be able to get home? That's how we feel about this, right? Even realizing this... It doesn't stop it from feeling weird. Does it feel weird to you too? Paradigm shifts normally take a generation of people to transition. I would like for you to break that barrier. I need people to be faster than that. Can you understand that it will inevitably happen, and accept it as the logical step forward?

Look I understand we all love to feel safe and comfortable knowing that these handholds will always be there for us... but the fact of the matter is we are going to face some things in the upcoming decades that will require the world to change quite dramatically. So be ready for that. Nothing lasts forever. Neither do your handholds. Adapt. Don't try and stop it because it's the only thing that can save us.

I think it isn't good, but it is an inevitable process. The current generation can to do a lot of things which older generations can't understand. If your parents can't figure out how to use a smartphone... Do you think that's very bad?

Such as?

I think the reverse is happening. The current generation is learning less and depending on tech for answers while the older generations actually learned the skills.

Rubbish! I'm from the UK, I asked my nephews 14 and 16 to read the time on an analogue clock, no problem at all.

I wouldn't trust an article that won't even give a rough estimate of how many schools are effected.

It names two teachers from two schools, so is it just in those schools that this problem exists?

the hint is in what he said.

here is an idea, lets make using an abacus a requirement in school, but not how to write an Excel marco all the while the older generation who does know how to use an abacus in a desperate situations are struggling to understand how a smart phone works

the answer to your question is LITERALLY the very next sentence!!!!!!!!!!!

there are plenty of people in this thread who think the abacus is a lost skill and it should be a required subject.

@tryit: I understand that and even agree (with the skill part), but that doesn't make it any less practical or slower.

Again, it's apples and oranges: abacus to calculator is not clock to clock...it'd be like abacus to calculator is like sundial to clock.