Students being held back by poor broadband

Pupils in British schools are being held back by slow broadband speeds, teachers have warned.

Speaking to Cable.co.uk, teachers said that schools are struggling to get the superfast broadband speeds they need in the classroom, leaving students at a disadvantage.

Teachers' union NASUWT also warned that high broadband prices could leave schools without the connection speeds they need to connect every pupil to the internet.

The union, which is made up of 293,024 teachers and school staff across the UK, added that as technologies such as tablets and laptops become increasingly commonplace in schools, it is vital that no school is left behind.

General secretary Chris Keates said the problem is most common in free schools and academies, where it is more difficult to get funding from local authorities for high speed internet.

“Unfortunately, the cost of broadband like many other things now falls at full price on individual schools following the massive fragmentation of the system by this government," she said.

“Schools no longer benefit from the economies of scale local authorities could command and so this means children and young people lose out when schools find costs prohibitive.”

The concerns are backed by research from the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), which suggests that schools are making slow progress in reaching their ideal level of broadband connectivity, with some primary schools only halfway towards ideal broadband speeds.

Alison Hine, headteacher at Dassett CofE Primary School, Warwickshire, has seen firsthand how poor connectivity can hold back lessons.

She said that although the school currently has two tablets per class, she has to take all the devices home to download apps as the school's broadband is so slow.

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