Dutch secondary schools are switching to digital teaching aids and in three out of 10 schools, pupils work on a laptop or tablet in at least some lessons, Trouw reports on Tuesday.

Trouw says the number of schools making a structural switch is up 25% on a year ago. The figures come from educational research institute Kennisnet.

The research shows schools have differing approaches to the use of electronics. Some see tablets as a ‘book behind glass’ while others are abandoning traditional teaching methods in favour of ‘personalised’ education.

Alternatives

In nearly all cases, parents themselves by the laptops and tablets for their children. Junior education minister Sander Dekker told a television show recently schools should not force parents to buy expensive electronic equipment and must offer a ‘full-value alternative’ to parents who cannot pay.

Trouw quotes the Alfrink College in Zoetermeer where 12 of the 13 first-year classes this year use laptops and one is ‘analogue’.

‘Many parents give their child a laptop when they go up to secondary school, in the same way as you used to get a new bike,’ spokesman Eric Brunings told the paper.