According to a teacher, most pupils could remain focused for around 20 minutes during a 30-minute lesson, provided they received the occasional reminder to stay on task. Today, that figure has fallen to between 10 and 15 minutes for many pupils.
THE effects of the digital age do not end when children walk through the school gates each morning.
Teachers across South Africa are increasingly finding themselves educating a generation of pupils whose relationship with technology has changed the way they listen, learn, read, solve problems and engage with the world around them. While digital devices have transformed education for the better in many respects, they have also introduced challenges that are becoming impossible to ignore.
Mrs Wilson, a Grade 7 teacher at Port Shepstone Senior Primary with 12 years of classroom experience, has witnessed the change unfold year after year.
"The biggest difference," she explains, "is the amount of time learners are able to listen to instruction. We spend far more time repeating instructions and far more effort trying to engage learners with prescribed content than we did when I first started teaching."
