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Tories pledge to halt screen-based school exams and cut coursework

Tories pledge to halt screen-based school exams and cut coursework

The party says its proposals for England aim to address excessive screen time and over-reliance on AI.

The Conservatives have promised to halt screen-based exams and cut coursework in a bid to limit the use of AI by schoolchildren in England if the party returns to power.

The party has also pledged to develop new guidelines so that laptops and tablets are not the "default in classrooms".

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott cited recent warnings from clinicians that excessive screen time could be damaging children's health, adding that "everything in schools must be safe for children and improve standards".

The government is currently developing new screen-time guidance for children and has previously said it would consult on the safety of AI in schools.

The vast majority of school exams in the UK are pen and paper based. Under the previous government led by Sir Keir Starmer, exam regulator Ofqual launched a consultation last year, external on the introduction of on-screen exams.

But it emphasised that pen and paper would "remain central" and that the most widely taken subjects would not be moving to digital assessments for the "foreseeable future".

In their announcement on Sunday, the Tories said they would "put a stop" to the introduction of screen-based exams, and require screen time for secondary pupils to be limited to no more than two hours a day.

In brief

The Conservatives have promised to halt screen-based exams and cut coursework in a bid to limit the use of AI by schoolchildren in England if the party returns to power. The vast majority of school exams in the UK are pen and paper based. Under the previous government led by Sir Keir Starmer, exam regulator Ofqual launched a consultation last year, external on the introduction of on-screen exams.

This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to BBC News — Top Stories. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.

Continue reading at BBC News — Top Stories ↗

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