Fresh TT Rockstars screen time concerns have been put to the government, with a Labour MP warning that the popular times-tables game and similar classroom apps may be rewarding children for the duration they spend online rather than the quality of their learning.
Emily Darlington, who represents Milton Keynes Central, told the Commons Science Committee on Tuesday that gamification can push children to stay on devices for long stretches in pursuit of virtual rewards. The committee is examining how screen time and digital devices affect children’s brain development.
What the MP told the committee
Darlington said she had received complaints from parents about the amount of time their children spend on the app, which lets pupils compete with classmates for coins and rock-star-themed characters and outfits. She argued that education technology can have a place in the classroom, but warned that when game mechanics are introduced, children may spend hours online trying to earn the latest outfit.
According to the MP, parents are worried about conflict over device use and about the pressure children feel to perform against their peers. She also suggested that such pressure could discourage pupils from taking part in activities away from screens.
Company response and new limits
Bruno Reddy, founder of Maths Circle, the firm behind TT Rockstars, said he shared concerns about screen time and that the company was working with schools to introduce curfews and time limits. He said the company discourages long sessions and that every game in TT Rockstars is deliberately short, with characters reminding children to take regular breaks.
Reddy said the guidance given to schools is a rule of thumb of three minutes, four or five times a week. In September, he said, a typical child played on three days for about six minutes each time.
From 24 November, according to Reddy, every school will have a curfew and a daily time limit switched on, and leaderboards will be switched off as default.
Maths Circle says TT Rockstars and Numbots, a similar programme for addition and subtraction, are used in 17,000 schools and more than 100,000 households. Reddy, a former maths teacher, said TT Rockstars was designed to boost learning in the classroom by recognising progress, celebrating achievement and making learning enjoyable.
He added that the company had deliberately avoided features meant to keep children playing, such as streaks, random rewards, chat messages, loot boxes or notifications. There is no advertising, he said, and schools pay the same subscription regardless of how much students play, so the company has no commercial reason to want children on screen for longer.
Minister questions gamification
At the same committee session, early years education minister Paul Waugh said gamification is not the way to learn. He argued that claims about its educational value are propaganda from education technology companies and that the approach is driven by profit and screen use.
Waugh said there are ways of making learning fun that do not involve competition with oneself or with someone else, and that education technology should support teachers rather than replace them.
The government is drawing up guidelines for schools and parents on how much time five- to 16-year-olds should spend on screens.
Campaigners urge caution
Charlotte Ashton, co-founder of Generation Focus, which campaigns for smartphone-free schools, said growing numbers of parents and teachers are rejecting education technology because there is little evidence that most digital learning tools improve learning and growing evidence that they can be harmful. She said not all technology is bad, but that until new digital tools are shown to improve children’s learning without causing harm or unintended consequences, her organisation supports schools in sticking to proven teaching methods.
