Doctors are now sounding the alarm, with 150 leading clinicians recently writing to Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, to warn that we are seeing a 'crisis unfold with children presenting earlier and more severely' with physical and developmental health issues, including language and eyesight problems, due to screen time in class. So why are tablets, monsters and gaming taking over schools across the country? At first, it was the promise of futuristic tech for the digital age. But there's more at play. One former teacher tells me it's the only way for staff to cope. Class sizes in secondary schools are getting bigger and classrooms are harder to control. The admin load is more burdensome. A lot of children have English as a second language and need extra support, while much of the teacher's free time will be spent on things like safe-guarding or filling out behavioural reports. Something had to give, and teachers decided that marking homework was the best sacrifice. ✍️ Lara Brown Article | spectator.com/article/the-gr… | @lara_e_brown